Hi everyone!
The temperatures are finally rising around where I live to the point where night time freezing is out of the question. I've just moved my salvia plant from the living room back to my veranda. After doing a quick checkup I noticed that I have a nasty bug infestation though.
I noticed a few very small white crawlers that seem to resemble a sort of miniature caterpillars or something. I tried removing them by scooping some top soil out with a spoon, but quickly found out that underneath the surface many, many more were hiding. I've scooped out as much as possible, but it was evident that I'm not getting rid of these bugs this way. I also noticed that they are quick and jumpy (like lice).

I'm not sure what kind of critters they are, and how dangerous they are to my plant, but of course I'd like to get rid of them asap as I wouldn't like my last remaining plan to succumb from this.
Does anyone recognize what these are, and what my best course of action is?

Also, throughout the winter period (when my plant has been sitting on a cupboard next to a window) no side leafs have formed on any of the stalks at all, so at the moment my plant is looking tall, stalky and bare except for the top leaves (which seem to be in decent condition). Is this normal, and if not, what might be the issue here? I'm aware that I should have topped some of the stalks to get the plant to grow more bushy, but didn't want to do so during the winter period while the plant was not actively growing leaves. I will be taking cuttings this summer once the plant is doing better again.

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Edit: further research suggests that these are springtail bugs:
http://www.orkin.com/other/springtails/

They eat fungus and molds, and clear up dead plant material. I assume that they are not harmful to the plant then (perhaps actually beneficial)? I haven't seen them eating anything or crawling onto the plant. Was just worried for a sec since there are so many of them.

diatomaceous earth on the soil might help. Maybe Neem oil spray on the existing leaves. If it were me I might not use that set of leaves, just the growth after.