Keep it! Don't even rototill it. Just flip it as best you can so it's soil side up and put however much fill you'll still need over it. Six years ago, we stripped up our whole back lawn soon after we moved here. The grading was bad and it had to be redone. The guy who was doing the work had estimated $600 to dispose of it, so I had him move it to the back of the property and I flagged out a berm area. That berm is the best soil we have anywhere -- all that decomposed grass and roots mixed into the soil...digging in it is effortless. Definitely keep the sod! We call it the "turf berm".

It they are leafhoppers: From ehow.com ----- "Chemical control is usually only employed with new lawns, or established lawns with particularly heavy damage. Broad spectrum insecticides should not be used, as they will harm beneficial insects. Chemicals used to control grass leafhoppers include acephate, bifenthrin, carbaryl and deltamethrin." The article did not discuss "beneficial insects." One insecticide containing carbaryl is Sevin and is probably found at most stores.

I'd also get rid of the grubs before they start laying eggs! LOL. I'm in Nevada dealing with compacted sand, so I know your difficulties. It's the only soil I've tried to dig, only to have the shovel bounce right off the top! You should have some nutrients in the clay soil, so it may be richer than you are thinking. If you have the time, you could plant cover crops, let them grow a bit, dig them under, and plant more cover crops. If you did this for a year, you'd have wonderful soil you could fork turn. I have a friend here in Nevada who did that with her compacted sand, and she now has lovely loamy soil that is workable down about 18-20 inches. She also used compost around the cover crops. Just a thought. I'm thinking about using cover crops to loosen up my soil and add organics. Best of luck to you in whatever you do!

I'm inundated with those stupid moths too. Usually, every time I bring ANYTHING grain related home, I immediately put it in the freezer for 24 hrs to make sure any and all critters eggs are dead. (used to be just weevils, now it's those stupid moths) Most of those critters come in the food from the manufacturer. I too was on the austerity program and had to purchase food from the food bank. Usually, if I DO see any critters in a bag, I put it in the freezer before putting it in the trash. I went to open a box/inner bag of cereal and it was loaded with those nasty moths. I just threw the bag in the trash and I have regretted not putting it in the freezer ever since. They are an infestation now. I took everything out of my pantry and put it in the freezer THEN I threw them out. I put borax,which does kill them, all around my pantry left it closed for a few days then vacuumed the dead moths out & now the pantry is free of moths. I thought AWESOME!!! the fight is over or so I thought. Then I went into my coat closet and just happened to look up & there were about 20 of the cocoons in there. I took my broom and squashed & swept them all away. (BTW: I have one of those broom & dustpan kits where the broom fits into the dustpan & clips onto the handle. I put borax in the dustpan, so if the moths or cocoons are still alive after sweeping & squishing them, it will kill them, which it does). I was seeing baby moths flying all over. Since I saw the cocoons in the 1 closet, I decided to look in the ceiling of the rest of my closets. There were some in the linen closet. Then I went into the spare bedroom, to check the closet in there (which we keep the a/c vent partially closed and the lights off.) I almost had a heart attack. There must have been 100 of those cocoons hanging all around the edges of the ceiling and in the closet. There was no way I was going to be able to get all of them without dragging the ladder in & sweeping/squishing all of them. Well, I said all this to say: Is there anything I can just spray up there & kill all the moth cocoons before they hatch? I was thinking about using wasp spray, the stuff that shoots 20 feet. It says on the can that it also kills caterpillars. Which turn into butterflies. Moths are the devils version of butterflies. Butterflies are harmless and beautiful. Moths are ugly and very harmful. "Don't store up treasures here on earth where MOTHS and rust corrupts... Any comments?