No tips for you (sorry) but I did get quite a chuckle out of your story about the roach walking along side you. We have those here too (only we call them Palmetto Bugs). I swear some of the suckers are the size of small mice.
Well.... By training I am a civil engineer (practiced for several years but not anymore), but that didn't teach me as much as you might think.
Mainly it was a trial and error (lots of errors) thing and I still have plenty to learn....
We've done something similar to the PTF family. We live in a townhouse that we own in a historic city. We have a small front yard and a small backyard that are "ours" and they are FULL of stuff.
I would love to be able to...
We have several. One is a Jr. Wormery from the UK. It's in the front yard because it just looks liek a small green trash can. It fills up quickly though. In the backyard we have one of...
I would guess it's OK to leave the grass. My mom has always done it that way in her fabulous yard (some 40+ years in the making). In my mediocre yard I have them in a bed, but I wouldn't hesiate to let them grow with grass if I wanted...