If you can find a source of good compost, that might be even better for your soil. I'm not sure of the amount for peat but I know many people will say an inch or two of compost spread over the yard will help your yard. The question of tilling or not is hotly debated.

Forget the peat. I tried it over a year ago and it was a waste of money and time.

I've since done it with compost and there's a night and day difference. Now, I must admit I used a lot more compost then when I tried the peat.

Just remember, peat really doesn't have much nutritional value, where compost has lots! Plus, compost will get more of those soil organisms you need for healthy soils.

BTW, I'm able to get compost much cheaper then Sphagnum peat. The reason is because I was buying the peat at Lowes where I can get a pickup bed load of compost for $14 from the town's water treatment plant. Some counties and towns will give away compost for free!

I agree that peat is not a great solution for amending clay soils - go with the compost :-) Besides, peat is a natural soil acidifier and most turf grasses prefer a more neutral soil pH. It also encourages the proliferation of mosses, if that is a concern in your area.

Local garden centers or nurseries should carry a seed blend appropriate for your area. Most turfs are a blend of grasses, especially in more northerly areas that offer cool season grasses, and some blends are more suitable for specific locales and for different use conditions. I'd think you were a bit late for the optimum seeding time for fall, however; even in my mild zone 8, they don't recommend seeding a new lawn after the first of October. You're just not going to get very good germination this late.

In New York you have readily available every year a large quantity of material that is a much better soil amendment that peat moss every will be because there are trees that annually shed leaves that for the most part are raked up, bagged up, and thrown away. So each year people expend hugh amounts of time, energy, and money gettng rid of a material that has a lot of nutrients that would feed our soil and then in the spring, mostly, spend even more time, energy, and money buying a product that has no nutrients to feed our soil so we need to spend even more money and energy to buy "fertilizers" to put into the soil to replenishing what we removed by throwing away the leaves which tool nutrients from the soil the trees were growing in.
You need about 5 to 8 percent organic matter in your soil, that would be about 1 3.8 cubic foot bag of peat moss per 16 square foot area if that is worked into the top 8 inches of soil. Then, because the soil bacteria would find that peat moss pretty much indigestable, you need to add some form of "fertilizer" to feed the soil bacteria that will feed your plants.

I concur - skip the peat. Compost is cheaper and more effective. Simply lay it on top of the soil in a 2-3 inch layer and seed directly into it. It works great.

It is indeed getting kinda late for seeding. OTOH, if this warm weather continues in the Northeast, we may be mowing our lawns on Christmas! Have you considered sod as an alternative? It's a little expensive, but it's instant gratification. Same deal as with seed - simply spread compost over the soil and then lay the sod down on top of the compost. I'm pretty sure there's still time to establish sod before the cold weather sets in. If the area is subject to erosion by winter/spring rains, then sod might be a much better alternative, as it will mitigate the erosion whereas young grass plants will just wash out.

-Diggity

Peat moss has really gone by the way-side in recent years, in exchange for renewable and inexpensive resources like compost or other organic (as in natural, like chopped leaves) materials. Reapplying compost or mulch on an annual basis continues to improve your soil texture, over time.

If your yard is badly compacted by construction equipment, then deep chisel plowing or very deep tilling might be necessary ONCE. It all depends upon the condition of the soil.

In my area of the world we can seed grass until about the middle of October and still see it germinate and start to grow quite well before the snow covers it in a "normal" year. There have been years in the past when we had snow on the ground at this time of the year that stayed until mid April, but not very often. In New York there should still be ample time to seed.