Advice on lawn

Hello 

Hoping some of you knowledgeable people out there can help....?

What used to be my 'lawn' was in reality, some tufty bits of grass, with the bulk of the lawn area covered in dandelions. In June, I got so fed up with it, I decided to get serious!

Am not in the habit of using weedkiller of any kind, so read up about how to bring the life of a dandelion to an end organically. Armed with that info, I covered half the lawn with layers of cardboard, and newspaper, topped with compost, and kept this damp. Several weeks later (possibly too late in the year by now, I covered the other half, same method & topped with weed fabric, so I had somewhere to walk.

So, now we're in September, and I realise time is running out if I want to sow grass seed this year. Turf is not an option, as it's too expensive. The lawn area is mainly dug over, and have got out some huge dandelions roots, no idea they could get so big. However, there remains an area of 2 feet by 10 feet to be dug and cleared, and then whole thing then needs levelling, and to settle.

To get the best result. I am now wondering if it's better now to leave this until Autumn 2018. I can dig over, level enough, and cover with weed fabric again, and the ground can really settle before I sow seed next September. Am not too bothered what it looks like, as I'd rather the end result is a good one, rather than a hurried one, and I'm a very patient gardener :-)

Any advice, thoughts, ideas on what the best way forward is?