Need some help making my lawn more of a lawn!

We have 1 acre, a blend of grass, clover, weeds, etc. Lots of trees around, so piles of leaves in the fall, and every couple of years several billion acorns come raining down. I'm not the best lawn keeper. I mow fairly regularly, but have never done anything with regard to seeding or feeding. Just never sure what to do, and partly I am a bit lazy with the lawn so never wanted to spend too much time out there, and didn’t want to spend too much.

This winter, I’ve realized it’s time for some improvements. It’s been very wet here (Virginia) so walking/kids playing on the lawn has left lots of muddy spots. Also our dog is neurotic so always walks the same path, which of course has worn down to mud, too. I mow a lot of leaves in the fall, but not sure if that and the acorns has smothered the lawn too much. Should I try and rake everything up first?

No idea if I need to just seed, if I have to aerate, if any places need better soil, etc., not to mention what type of grass, watering, and so forth.

Here are the main problems:

1. General mud/bare spots: just seed any compost over these?
2. Places that weeds/crab grass have pushed grass out: do I have to remove the weeds somehow before I can seed?
3. Couple of low spots that I need to add dirt and then seed.
4. We had a new well dug, and they trashed one corner of our lawn. The dirt on the surface here is bright red clay and seems really hard/non-porous. Also, it’s not very level. Any easy way to get it flat? I think if I add soil on top it will be too high compared to the rest of the lawn and the fencing.

Sorry this got so long! Want to be ready once the warm weather arrives. Please let me know any advice or thoughts. Thanks so much!

You need to keep the lawn free of debris, relatively anyway. Mulching leaves is OK if done often and you're not getting a build-up. Areas under trees will just go bare again unless you raise the limbs up a bit and thin them out to let the sun in. And if it gets a lot of use and compaction that doesn't help. Good soil that isn't compacted to death helps a lot, but a lawn that's nothing but sand can thrive with irrigation, sun and frequent fertilizing. Maybe some ground covers under the trees? And yes if you have perennial weeds they need to be killed first. Getting a good cover of grass and using a pre-emergent will help keep the annual weeds out.

I suggest you tackle one area at a time, starting from near the house and working your way out. Or do the well area first and don't get carried away unless you really think you're going to have a serious love affair with your lawn and keep at it. It's an ongoing battle and if you're not going to keep at it you'll just waste money on seed, fertilizer and water. Yes, it needs to be loosed and leveled (tilled) before adding topsoil. But with red clay soil under it you're going to have drainage problems. It sounds like you already know what to do (sort of anyway). You should probably send some soil samples out to your local agricultural extension service for analysis before doing anything. They can help to advise you.

Thanks for the help! I'll definitely start with getting everything raked off the lawn. Maybe try and talk my wife into one of those tow behind sweepers ?
For the muddy or bare spots that have better soil (not the hard clay) do I need to do anything before I seed? Aerate or anything? And then do I need to choose a particular variety of grass or just one of those shaker bottles with seeds and fertilizer mixed?
Thanks again

Aeration can't hurt. It will help to relieve compaction and open the soil up to air and nutrients. More important is to loosen the top portion of the soil so you can get shallow burial of the seed in a nice seed bed. You can use a slit seeder that will cut shallow slits in the soil and drop seed behind in one step - best to do twice at right angles or it will resemble rows of corn. But my preferred method, especially if the lawn is humpy/bumpy is to rent a power dethatcher. It's similar to a slit seeder but has flail instead of fixed tines, allowing you to till a bit deeper and smooth things out. You will have a lot of "duff" to clean up though. Apply a starter fertilizer. Then broadcast some seed, run a spring tine rake (metal leaf rake) over it to get shallow burial of the seed and I always apply bagged shredded straw for erosion control. You'd go broke using a combined seed/fertilizer/mulch product. As far as seed, use what is used in your area. I'm guessing a cool-season mixture...your local garden center should sell a mix appropriate for your region. Keep moist with light watering once or twice a day for about 3 weeks until you get complete germination. Spring isn't the best time - late summer/fall is, because the grass routes won't have time to get deep enough to survive the summer without watering. But if you have some shade that will help. There's a high risk you'll lose grass in full sun thats planted in spring.

I probably left some things out and there's more than one way to do it, but the above works for me.

P.S./Edit: Couple other things. There's more of a chance of getting a nice crop of annual weeds by seeding in spring, as you're breaking the soil and that's when most germinate. You can use a weed killer to kill perennial weeds before planting, but don't use one labeled as "extended control." Also, if you use a pre-emergent weed control you will need to wait AT LEAST 2 weeks before seeding.