Pretty hard to tell it's spring lately... 3” of snow on April 1 was a cruel April Fool’s joke, and cold weather has kept soil temperatures hovering just below the all-important 50-degree mark when grass seed germinates. 

But the weather is turning now, its supposed to reach the 60’s this coming weekend!

So, for all of you who aren’t watching the Masters this weekend – my business partner tells me that’s a big golf game? – its time to get out and do some lawn calisthenics!

There's a lot of lawn out there. NASA used its Earth Observatory (see map) to estimate over 40 million acres of lawn! That's 3x the amount of area sowed in corn. That's the largest irrigated crop in America. That's big!

You may have seen a recent article in the Wall Street Journal touting the lessons learned from the builders and inhabitants of the nation’s ‘greenest building,’ the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.  This innovative building is very cool - equipped with a transpired solar collector, narrow 60 foot wide wings with emphasis on natural light and cubicles with a stringent energy budget of 55 watt

If you're in the grass business, snow on the ground means its time to take a little vacation and start thinking about the spring season. I'm doing a little of both during a year-end trip. My travels are taking me to Jordan and Egypt this time, and I'm seeing a lot of grass. Construction has been booming in the arab world, fueled by petro-dollars for sure but also by growing, increasingly well-educated populations and liberalizing economies.

Pearl's Premium was proud to participate in the leading sustainable construction event of the year. Sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council, the same people who brought us L.E.E.D., GreenBuild is a clearinghouse for innovative ideas and products and an opportunity to network with all the critical constituencies as we further our mission to make the American lawn sustainable. Oh, and Chicago is a great town to spend a few days! Great restaurants, museums, parks and shopping, Chicago is also home to some of the most important developments in modern architecture.

I love Hull! A beautiful beach arching along the Atlantic bookended by majestic big wind turbines and populated by an energized citizenry.

We do several sustainability events in the name of the Pearl's Premium grass seed mission to make the American lawn sustainable - less mowing, less watering, no chemicals - and always have fun there.

Check out their latest idea (photo at left) and join them this Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4pm at Steamboat Wharf, if you can, to talk about Personal Rapid Transit via JPod... very cool!

The polls may have closed on the U.S. elections, but you can still vote for Pearl's Premium in the British Airways Face the Opportunity Contest

The contest gives small businesses the chance to win free round trip airfare to anywhere in the British Airways network. So, they can see their opportunities face-to-face.

We did it! Pearl’s Premium won a $50,000 cash prize at the MassChallenge international competition for innovative ideas.

Help us find Bob! We get feedback all the time. Most of the time its flattering stuff... "Pearl's Premium is great; it really does grow slowly..." or "Your grass grew in my lawn where nothing has grown before; finally, I have lawn..." or "I gave up the chemicals and I'd all but given up on having a beautiful lawn... until I found Pearl's Premium." Well, you get the idea.

Of course, as with any product, we get a few complaints along the way. Responding to these my job behind the scenes. We always try to respond quickly, often dropping by for homeowners in the area, taking a test soil sample and even offering up a new bag of Pearl's Premium sometimes.... even when the issue was unrelated.

For example, I visited Debra in Natick the other day to see why she was unhappy. It turns out Debra had a grub infestation that had ruined part of her lawn. Pearl's Premium wasn't to blame, but we showed up, and she was grateful we did: "Hi, This is SO above and beyond the call of duty!!! I am thoroughly surprised and appreciative that you took the time to ask Russell's about grubs - in addition to driving over to my house! Thanks again so very much!"