Mass. man develops low maintenance grass

(NECN: Alysha Palumbo - Wayland, MA) - Many of our yards here in New England seem to be more brown than green after a summer with little rain and lots of heat.

But others have kept their lush lawns despite the drought by using a product created right here in Massachusetts.

Carole Berkowitz of Natick, MA said, "Neighbors are looking to see how nice my lawn is because compared to some of theirs, theirs isn't quite as nice."

Weston, MA homeowner David Kominz said, "First year it was great, I hardly - I just mowed it every few weeks and that was great."

The product is Pearl's Premium Low Maintenance Grass Seed and it was developed by a man who was fed up with spending his entire summer tending to his lawn.

Creator Jackson Madnick said, "I've always loved lawns but I hated the all the water, the work, the runoff, the chemicals, and the hazards of lawn care chemical."

Madnick has turned his Wayland, Massachusetts home into a laboratory of sorts, growing all sorts of different grass, testing his grass seeds to the outer limits.

"Our lawn only needs to be cut once a month, seldom or never needs to be watered after it's watered to get established, and never needs chemical fertilizer," said Madnick.

That means this organic grass seed is truly green.

It's safe for pets and children, and those dangerous chemicals don't seep into the lakes and ponds throughout the area... which is important for someone like Carole Berkowitz, who lives on Lake Cochituate.

"We need to reduce the fertilizers, we need to reduce particularly the phosphorous in the fertilizers because that runs off into the lakes all over," said Berkowitz.

Pearl's Premium grass seed has even caught the eye of a Boston-based company called Mass Challenge.

The product is a finalist in Mass Challenge's million dollar competition between more than 400 companies world-wide that gives start-ups the financial backing, publicity and connections they need to succeed.

The Founder and CEO of Mass Challenge John Harthorne said, "So this really is just a mechanism for catalyzing the launch of more start-ups which is how you create jobs."

Mass Challenge will award prizes between $50,000-$100,000 at its award ceremony on October 21st.

For more information on Mass Challenge and its finalists, you can visit its website at www.masschallenge.com.

For more information on Pearl's Premium Low Maintenance Grass Seed, its website is www.pearlspremium.com.

You can find Pearl's Premium at Whole Foods stores or www.wholefoods.com.