My front lawn has bald spots with cracks about an inch wide, 3 inches long in about 5 places in my yard. I'm trying to switch to organic gardening. My question is would it be safe to put a mixture of shale and compost in the cracks, cover bald spots with fertilizer and compost?

Thanks for advice, I'm a newbie

Willamina

I think that would be a good move overall but I would wait till fall when we get some rain (hopefully) and the adjacent grass will be able to grow into the bare areas.
Tony M

Just lay soaker hoses on the area, turn the faucet on to a trickle, and let it run 24/7 for a week at a time. Then move it to a different area. Once you've covered the entire area, come back and repeat starting at the beginning. This will develop a healthy colony of fungi in the soil. That's what you need to retain moisture and keep the cracks from opening up.