Been doing the same thing with my fathers yard since we were kids and our yard has always looked green and full all year. Rent a Thatcher after thaw and you see the first sign of green run that across to peel up the dead grass and expose the ground. Some will do an airator. Run a couple bags of seed if it seems thin or in bald spots and rake it in. Thus the need for the thatcher to remove all loose grass first. (should only need to this maybe the first 2 seasons until you get a full yard.) If you have weed problems like crabgrass or dandylions do not wait to treat them when they start to appear. I grew up in a farm community and never bought the watered down herbicides off the store shelf (expensive too). We grew up with Ron Hefty (owner of Hefty Seed Co) and always went to him to get the good stuff that was way cheap. Spray for weeds before they appear and there is stuff that won't hurt the grass or grass seed. Do this early and get setup and the only thing you have to worry about is mowing and you can tell the chemlawn guys to kiss off.
When you mow, mow a different direction or pattern each time to keep the grass standing straight and give the grass the wheels you ran over a few days ago a chance to recover. Next and most important, and takes a little bit of future temp prediction. Start your season cutting fairly low when it is cool out (1/4-1/2 deck height), this helps the seedlings catch up and good sunlight to the smaller plants. Just as things warm up you need to raise your mower deck nealry as high as it will go. 1 cutting with your deck too low and a day of high temps is all it takes to brown your lawn the rest of the season. I don't know if this is a factor eaither but we have had really nice looking laws when we used Lawnboy 2 strokes for our mowers( The old ones). Don't know if it's their lightweight magnesium decks, staggered wheels or if its the higher RMP that it spins that blade but We've had the 4 stroke Lawnboy and other 4 stroke Briggs and Snappers and nothing cuts as nice. I will never have anything else than a Lawnboy 2 stroke with the lightweight deck (preferably the old ones as pictured) (not the cheap ones you see with the junk motors for about $200 at Lewis Drug) I mean their Platinum series at $469-650 with the Tecumseh 2 stroke.
