Getting the sod off is the harder part. I’ve always done it the old-fashioned way; cutting it out piece by piece with a shovel, shaking off soil and worms, composting the rest in an out-of-the-way place.
A sod cutter would speed things up or you could do tarps over several weeks ... or a combination.
There may have been chemical lawn treatments put down so that’s something to consider in the near term.
You could leave the grass on the paths but cover with heavy cardboard and then lots of straw. Next year the paths can be turned over as garden space and new paths laid out. That’s how I rotated and rested my New England garden. There were always a zillion worms in the area where the straw was so I gently hand-turned the soil; never mechanically tilled. Here in Florida for many reasons I use grow bags for veggies and reserve in-ground for fruit trees.
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