Clubbing baby seals? Our version of that is tilling the area to become a lawn. DON'T! So basically you need a lawn care mental make over. I'll get to that for you. It is pretty easy but it is equally easy to really do it wrong. I would suggest a grass called Shadow Turf. It is a variety of zoysia that really does grow in the shade. I'll post a picture after saying a few words about it. Shadow Turf was developed in West Texas at Texas Tech University along with Frontier Hybrids, a corn hybriding lab, in Abernathy, Texas. The owner had an interest in grasses and got two really good ones on the market before he passed away. The other one is Tech Turf, a buffalo grass hybrid. Tech Turf requires FULL sun while Shadow Turf only tolerates full sun. Shadow Turf really thrives in the shade. In the photo below, the Shadow Turf is under an English walnut tree. I had to duck to walk under the tree, so the canopy is probably down to 4-5 feet. You can see the density of the shade from the sunlight coming through the tree. The house faces west and has a huge tree across the street. Sunlight on the grass is limited to just a couple hours from noon to 3pm. That lawn was plugged on 12-inch centers about 18 months before I took the picture. The location is Abernathy, TX (obviously not a coincidence - Abernathy is a one-horse town). The reason I took that pic was to show where the grass had not quite fully filled in after 18 months. That spot is the least sunny part of the yard and probably receives no direct sunlight at all. Still the 1-inch grass plugs had spread to six inches or so in diameter. Clearly the rest of the lawn had filled in. Shadow Turf is a very dense, sod forming turf that might work for you in your application. Another variety of shade tolerant zoysia is called UC Verde. It was developed in California. It has a good reputation for the short time it has been out. I would check prices for both. Shadow Turf is not cheap. I paid about $85 for a flat of plugs. It spreads quickly, though, once it pops. I planted in May and by mid July I thought it was dead. SUDDENLY it was everywhere. It had been sending rhizomes around underground, and they all popped at once. Shadow Turf is moderately compatible with bermuda. Both can be mowed very low. Shadow Turf can also grow taller but when you do that, it is like bermuda in that when you mow the blades off the stems, it looks stemmy and brown. Getting the blades back on the ST takes a little time. It works much better mowed low and/or mowed often. Here are the basics of lawn care (lawn care mental make over). If you follow these guidelines you'll be okay even if all you have is weeds. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above.

If you can get 1/2 inch PVC tubing in 20 foot lengths, you can make a hoop over a 4 foot wide bed that's roughly eight feet high in the center. Shove four rods of rebar thin enough to go inside the tubing and long enough to get a firm hammering into the ground with a foot or so sticking up. A couple of bent nails or electrical conduit 2-hole clamps can help with steadiness by "attaching" the rebar to raised bed sides if necessary. Slide the tubing down over the rebar. Don't worry about roots. You can put up hoops in parallel like a Conestoga wagon or cross them in an X. You can also put up plastic tubing "poles", which means straight sections that don't hoop back down; they will be more flexible. How's your wind, and are you comfortable putting large sails into the wind? I was given a hot tip for edged and grommeted shade cloth: Harbor Freight. They also have scads of cheap clamps or you could use those huge binder clips! Also remember, you don't have to shade all the plants if some are in the shade of others. Here is a link that might be useful: Harbor Freight

Oh my, definitely a heavy duty long crowbar and possibly two strong 18-20 yr old males. It's back-breaking work. Literally. A hammer and chisel to remove small areas (closet) And pliers and old coffee can to pull up the thousand nails. Then lots of patience. It's definitely not fun but when you have your new floor in, you'll be glad you did it. We set a trailer out by the front door and large garbage cans to discard large/small chunks of the PB as we pulled it up. That helped too.

I'm reading it as you have a pot of beans in goop (sauce, juice, whatever) and you want to make dumplings in it. Is that right? Are the beans going to be happy being cooked more enough to make dumplings? At some point, they tend to fall apart. If you're trying to make bean stew with dumplings but the beans are at the right consistency for beans, but not for cooking dumplings, I'd make the dumplings in a separate pot. If you have plenty of beans, you can whirr up half a cup or more in the food processor or blender and use it to thicken your broth (or you can just use water) and bring some of the bean flavor to the dumplings. You need enough liquid that the dumplings can fit completely under (though they'll bob up). You can boil them on the stove or put them in the oven, then transfer them to your heated beans for five minutes on heat, to marry, or just serve up each into the bowl together. If your beans are too thick, you can add some of the dumpling liquid once the dumplings are cooked and use just enough to get the right consistency.