How to revive a low nitrogen and rocky soiled lawn?

Question

The situation is explained below in terms of my lawn with the question at the end

I recently moved into a new home two years ago and by the looks of the lawn it was low in nitrogen. A little more back story is that I don't think it was ever treated with fertilizer or chemicals as it was weedy, patchy, and overall in disarray.

While I haven't done a soil test I did quite a bit of work to get the weeds out and had a company treat with weed and feed for the past two years. After last summer the grass was still dry at times even with a diligent watering regimen.

I still suspect the lawn is low in nitrogen and I know it's very rocky underneath as I found when planting three trees. The area is newer and it appears much of the soil was taken from a nearby quarry.

Come spring I plan on doing my own lawn maintenance and have done extensive research on seeding, fertilizer, watering, and overall maintenance. All fertilizers I have researched have different claims in regards to when to apply and to what grass, but none really have a good explanation of how to treat lawns with low nitrogen, high clay and rocky soil.

Is there anything else I need to take into consideration in terms of fertilizer, weed and feed, or chemicals that I need to keep in mind when trying to revive my lawn?

What I am already doing

• Will get soil tested
• Have watering plan
• Researching applicable fertilizer

Answer 1

I see a few problems right away: Fertilizers are known to displace natural nutrients in the soil

• use a polyculture seed mix as all the plants using the same nutrients in the soil, adding clover to your lawn will naturally add extra nitrogen
• purchase a bag of mycelium that is known to aid plant growth (I recommend wine caps as they're easy to identify and edible) and plant it in the dirt around your yard with a hand shovel similar to planting saplings, or bulbs, and don't use any sort of fungicides as they damage soil health
• mulch your leaves into the soil as leaves are nutrients from deep in the ground being brought to the surface in order to give plants with shallow roots some nutrients

If you water your grass it will get used to being watered

There's different types of soil tests (I recommend the Haney Test as that's a full picture test, but costs some money)

Chickens being moved in a cage (confined chicken tractor) around your lawn (instead of mowing) will allow you to get some eggs as well as chicken manure.

Since you have a few trees I suggest signing up for chip drop, and fill the yard with wood chips to get healthy soil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoGB33QAkE4) as it decomposes.