Your location is not good news. I was hoping you were in Nevada sand but no. I (almost) never suggest that people get soil tests, but you absolutely need to get a soil test. You are in an area of natural mineral outbreaks which can sabotage your best gardening attempts. Boron, for example, is mined in your area. Too much boron in the soil will kill microbes, insects, microscopic insects, and even plants. Do you ever see insects in the grass? I would expect to see pill bugs, cockroaches, and earwigs. Maybe more of one than another, but at least some. You are fighting an uphill battle to grow fescue smack in the middle of the most hostile desert in the US. You might want to consider a different approach. Before you get a soil test, visit your county courthouse and ask for the agricultural extension agent. He'll office in the courthouse or very nearby. Ask him what seems to work best as far as turfgrass and soil amendments. He may know or may not. Keep an open mind for grasses like some of the buffalo grasses (UC Verde is a good variety in California) or some of the prairie grasses that thrive in your area. I realize nothing thrives without irrigation up there, but something must grow in the ditches. Chances are there are prairie grasses which, when irrigated monthly and mowed like a lawn, will look amazingly good and require very little care. When asking people about grasses, ask specifically about these: Big Galleta (Hilaria rigida) Indian Rice Grass (Oryzopsis hymenoides) Bush Muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri) Fluff Grass (Erioneuron pulchella) Red Brome (Bromus rubens) Desert Needle (Stipa speciosa) I am not familiar with any of these, so ask the people to talk to. You might Google them (look for Google Images). It is usually surprising to see what native grasses look like when seeded and mowed. Also visit the golf course and ask to speak to the grounds keeper. He can help you decide what to grow. He will be growing specialized grass for the course but he will also have a home lawn. Ask what he has. You originally asked about buying worms. My fear is that your soil's chemical and mineral make up will not let worms live in it. Only a soil test will tell. And the soil test you get must include micro nutrients, because the problem minerals you have show up only on the micro tests.

I doubt fert. will hurt them, but don't know that as fact. Non-selective insecticides will, though. Insecticides would be used for moles, sod webworms, etc.

Well, IMO "luck" doesn't play a part in creating fertile soil. Many of us have spent years and a lot of work to have healthy soil with lots of worms. I've never seen an earthworm in my compost tho, even when it's not very hot. I started with heavy clay soil with only a very thin layer of topsoil and by amending it with cattle/horse manure, mushroom manure, sawdust, and even 'topsoil' I then grew cover crops which can greatly improve the soil. We didn't have large rocks in our garden area but I've handpicked a ton of smaller ones. The best way I've found to increase the population of earthworms is to bury raw kitchen trimmings between plants. The worms find them, enjoy their banquet, and reproduce. I think one might have worms in a raised bed unless you have used landscape cloth under it for weed control. However in a hot climate it may be too warm for worms depending on the depth of the raised bed. If I had a yard with all those rocks I'd hire someone with a skid steer and scarifier and rockhound attachments to remove those rocks. Otherwise they'll be a continuous problem.

It sounds to me like you have a fair amount of experience and know how you want to proceed. Overall, I'd just add mulched leaves and grass as you plan to do and see/adjust as you go forward. Location and type of soil (warm/sandy for example) affect how much organic matter is retained in soil, as well. There are also practical considerations, like whether it makes sense to re-till after you've already done most of it, and how much 'compost' you have access to and its condition (how well aged, etc). If it's a large area, and you're tilling to ten inches, it'd actually have to be a large amount to make much of a difference. (Obviously your existing soil has at least some organic content - roots, stuff you've tilled in, etc., too, just not clear how much). Probably my only specific comment is you mentioned aeration a lot, but not clear that's a big issue in sandy soil. Anyway, you've done it, and I'm not arguing with your reasons, specific/local conditions matter. If you're feeling scientific, it might be interesting to till in compost to a smaller plot and see how that goes, just for comparison. A few random thoughts in no particular order: -I put compost in scare quotes because it really does depend. Compost from fibrous/woody materials will generally leave more stuff behind, "finished" or stable compost will reduce less in volume, and stuff that is 'raw' will settle and reduce in volume a lot more. Woody/fibrous inputs will (at least temporarily) tend to 'rob' nitrogen for the breakdown process, but also don't break down fully and can even become semi-permanent. -You say you'll add milorganite, that's a type of compost-like organic material, but I have no experience with how it degrades over time in soil. I'm guessing it mostly disappears over time. -A lot of the benefits of compost are for the structure of the soil and ability to support soil life (fungus, microbes, and yes, worms, etc). Also the partially-digested stuff and fungus hyphae and the like make the soil sticky and yet with air in them. Tilth and all that. -Does the compost itself have a lot of nutrients? Not its most important role although mostly doesn't hurt. Plays a bigger role in storing/keeping/sharing some of the nutrients (fungi moving them around, etc). -The roots of plants also do some aeration and affect drainage as they sprout and grow and die off etc., too. -I think your points on worms are mostly accurate, some types of worms will do their own aeration, eat plants, bury some, etc. There are probably some exceptions, but mostly I've heard people say that adding / introducing worms usually not very effective, it's more a question of conditions for them to thrive than adding them. If you have some, can't hurt to spread them around, but just probably not worth spending money on them. -Side note, compost worms - ones that live mostly on surface or close to it, or in piles of decaying matter - don't tend to dig down deep in soil, but it's amazing how they'll just show up. No need to go out of your way to introduce them, but if you spread some compost with compost worms in it, they won't hurt. Anyway, let us know how it goes, always interesting to hear. I've written too much when all I wanted to say was 'mostly, spreading compost on top won't hurt.' In fact spreading uncomposted organic material on top - within reason, ie in somewhat thin layers - as mulch or whatever - mostly won't hurt either.