diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f91294697e7..2e427fa7b2f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -6198,6 +6198,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "omicron-test-utils",
  "omicron-uuid-kinds",
  "omicron-workspace-hack",
+ "once_cell",
  "openapiv3",
  "oso",
  "oximeter 0.1.0",
diff --git a/nexus/db-queries/Cargo.toml b/nexus/db-queries/Cargo.toml
index 151dbc71f78..732ea5e6b61 100644
--- a/nexus/db-queries/Cargo.toml
+++ b/nexus/db-queries/Cargo.toml
@@ -92,8 +92,9 @@ itertools.workspace = true
 nexus-inventory.workspace = true
 nexus-reconfigurator-planning.workspace = true
 nexus-test-utils.workspace = true
+once_cell.workspace = true
 omicron-sled-agent.workspace = true
-omicron-test-utils = { workspace = true, features = ["seed-gen"] }
+omicron-test-utils.workspace = true
 openapiv3.workspace = true
 oso.workspace = true
 pem.workspace = true
diff --git a/nexus/db-queries/benches/README.adoc b/nexus/db-queries/benches/README.adoc
index f4f1a716344..1fab3b884fb 100644
--- a/nexus/db-queries/benches/README.adoc
+++ b/nexus/db-queries/benches/README.adoc
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ These queries can be run with:
 
 [source,bash]
 ----
-cargo bench -p nexus-db-queries
+cargo nextest bench -p nexus-db-queries
 ----
 
 Additionally, the "SHOW_CONTENTION" environment variable can be set to display
diff --git a/nexus/db-queries/benches/harness/mod.rs b/nexus/db-queries/benches/harness/mod.rs
index b4232cab202..c10aee87faf 100644
--- a/nexus/db-queries/benches/harness/mod.rs
+++ b/nexus/db-queries/benches/harness/mod.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ use nexus_db_queries::db::pub_test_utils::TestDatabase;
 use nexus_db_queries::db::pub_test_utils::helpers::create_project;
 use nexus_test_utils::sql::Row;
 use nexus_test_utils::sql::process_rows;
-use omicron_test_utils::dev;
 use slog::Logger;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -197,24 +196,3 @@ impl TestHarness {
         self.db.terminate().await;
     }
 }
-
-/// Typically we run our database tests using "cargo nextest run",
-/// which triggers the "crdb-seed" binary to create an initialized
-/// database when we boot up.
-///
-/// If we're using "cargo bench", we don't get that guarantee.
-/// Go through the database ensuring process manually.
-pub async fn setup_db(log: &Logger) {
-    print!("setting up seed cockroachdb database... ");
-    let (seed_tar, status) = dev::seed::ensure_seed_tarball_exists(
-        log,
-        dev::seed::should_invalidate_seed(),
-    )
-    .await
-    .expect("Failed to create seed tarball for CRDB");
-    status.log(log, &seed_tar);
-    unsafe {
-        std::env::set_var(dev::CRDB_SEED_TAR_ENV, seed_tar);
-    }
-    println!("OK");
-}
diff --git a/nexus/db-queries/benches/sled_reservation.rs b/nexus/db-queries/benches/sled_reservation.rs
index c1d1f6d0785..99b103025f3 100644
--- a/nexus/db-queries/benches/sled_reservation.rs
+++ b/nexus/db-queries/benches/sled_reservation.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ use nexus_db_queries::db::DataStore;
 use omicron_common::api::external;
 use omicron_test_utils::dev;
 use omicron_uuid_kinds::InstanceUuid;
+use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
 use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::time::Duration;
@@ -97,7 +98,7 @@ const SLED_PARAMS: [usize; 3] = [1, 4, 8];
 // You can run these with the following command:
 //
 // ```bash
-// cargo bench -p nexus-db-queries
+// cargo nextest bench -p nexus-db-queries
 // ```
 //
 // You can also set the "SHOW_CONTENTION" environment variable to display
@@ -421,7 +422,6 @@ fn sled_reservation_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
     let logctx = dev::test_setup_log("sled-reservation");
 
     let rt = tokio::runtime::Runtime::new().unwrap();
-    rt.block_on(harness::setup_db(&logctx.log));
 
     let group_patterns = [
         // No Affinity Groups
@@ -490,13 +490,23 @@ fn sled_reservation_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
                     // This mitigates any database-caching issues like "loading schema
                     // on boot", or "connection pooling", as the pool stays the same
                     // between calls to the benchmark function.
+                    //
+                    // We use a Lazy to only initialize the harness if the
+                    // benchmark's in run mode, not in list mode. (We can't use
+                    // std::sync::LazyLock as of Rust 1.87, because we need
+                    // into_value which isn't available yet.)
                     let log = logctx.log.clone();
-                    let harness = rt.block_on(async move {
-                        TestHarness::new(&log, sleds).await
+                    let harness = Lazy::new(|| {
+                        rt.block_on(async move {
+                            TestHarness::new(&log, sleds).await
+                        })
                     });
 
                     // Actually invoke the benchmark.
                     group.bench_function(&name, |b| {
+                        // Force evaluation of the harness outside to_async to
+                        // avoid nested block_on.
+                        let harness = &*harness;
                         b.to_async(&rt).iter_custom(|iters| {
                             let opctx = harness.opctx();
                             let db = harness.db();
@@ -517,10 +527,12 @@ fn sled_reservation_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
                     // Clean-up the harness; we'll use a new database between
                     // varations in parameters.
                     rt.block_on(async move {
-                        if std::env::var("SHOW_CONTENTION").is_ok() {
-                            harness.print_contention().await;
+                        if let Ok(harness) = Lazy::into_value(harness) {
+                            if std::env::var("SHOW_CONTENTION").is_ok() {
+                                harness.print_contention().await;
+                            }
+                            harness.terminate().await;
                         }
-                        harness.terminate().await;
                     });
                 }
             }