What I did was systematically dig out the dandelions and amend the soil with mulch, digging down a shovel length or more and screening the soil to remove all th

What I did was systematically dig out the dandelions and amend the soil with mulch, digging down a shovel length or more and screening the soil to remove all the rocks (and adding more mulch to make up for the volume lost from removing the stones). Since then we've gotten compost from the township and raked it over the lawn to fill in low spots, and I'd like to think that allow over two decades of grass clippings to mulch in have helped as well. I also allow the grass around the edges to grow long and cut it by hand w/ clippers, spreading it for birds to make nests of. Garden areas are my wife's problem.