To Plant a Lawn: Gardening Under Eucalyptus 101

After we moved to Danville my father planted a lawn in the back yard.  The front yard was mostly dichondra, planted by the developer.  It is a beautiful groundcover plant that I see rarely today.  Dad expressed great enthusiasm for a hardy variety of lawn grass called Saint Augustine's.  It grew into a thick, luxurious carpet that prevented weeds, notably at The City of Oakland's Children's Fairyland.  So, he had the back yard graded and tilled, and planted Saint Augustine's in rows a foot apart and then broadcast grass seed between them.  

Nothing grew well, the Saint Augustine's all died, and the seed grass survived in some spots.  Saint Augustine's is a rhizomatous grass; it spreads by sending out runners and rooting along the runners, the same way as crabgrass does.  By summer he saw that he had impossible dirt.  In some places it was silt; fine silky dust that repelled water!  Most of the yard was clay that packed down in spite of the generous amendments he had incorporated.  

The eucalyptus trees had been planted in the latter part of the 1800s in the hope that they would make good timber for home construction and boat masts.  Little did the people who promoted them know that these were blue gums.  They should have planted red gums; their grain is straighter and has been used in building.  

Eucalyptus oil had built up in the dirt to such an extent that as summer approached it repelled water where it was silty, especially near the embankment where the trees grew.  In the rest of the yard where the dirt was clay, it had the same effect.  The clay would begin to harden and crack about 3 days after the last spring rain.  

Plants also produce chemicals around them to discourage or prevent other plants from growing too close and taking their food supply.  Watch tiny seedlings in springtime; you may see a perfect circle of earth around each plant where nothing will grow.  This is one of nature's ways of ensuring space and food for each plant while it is at its most fragile stage:  sprouting.  As I understand it, there was something in the eucalyptus that did this; however, plenty of weeds and feral grasses grew under the trees.  For many years all he could do was to have the yard rototilled and plant vegetables, fruits, and flowers.  It was a long time before a second lawn was even attempted.