I split my 10 ft beds into 3 separate beds to avoid walking on the soil. As a result of creating these walkways, I've moved some of the soil around. I want to now till the new beds but am afraid since I've moved some of the soil around I'd damage the soil by "overtilling".
Consider your soil structure damaged just from the digging/moving, but keep the tilling to a minimum. I have horrible soil tilth, even with amending my soil for a couple years, so I do till in the spring before I plant. using mulch keeps the tilth softer and much more manageable the rest of the season. you should see me have to fight my DH off in the fall when he thinks we need to till again! ARGH! I'm hoping that when we relocate in the next year or so, that I can gain total control of the assembly and maintenance of our beds and gardens. Till if you need the soil broken up to plant in it, but if it's soft and manageable, leave it alone.
You don't say where you're located (which often determines how much "massaging" the soil needs!) but I'd recommend just using a garden fork (my best friend for almost all garden work, haha) to fluff and aerate. No need to till again especially if you had already done that prior to making the walkways.
My patch is in Northeast PA, home of cement garden soil and the rest of the rocks leftover from the forming of the Rocky Mountains, so tilling after adding compost, manure, leaves, is a helpful thing, but not overdone. We have 2 "gardens", one is 30x30' and the other is 60x60' and we do both with a 5' King Kutter tiller that hooks on the back of our John Deere 4210 (compact utility tractor). Equipment overkill? you might ask! But we also have 6 more acres that are currently pasture, and will eventually be tilled for planting also. Keeping hubby happy in the equipment area, haha.
The ideal situation is to just add compost to the top of the soil, don't till, and let nature take care of things. But sometimes you have to help Her get started!
I agree that if you have moved the soil once, there is no need to till it at this point. If the idea is not to walk on the soil by re-configuring your garden, then you just bought yourself the ticket to a life of no-till gardening. You will love it!! If you do need to break up the top layer for one reason or another, you just need a garden fork - I like my Garden Weasel - and you can leave the earthworm tunnels and microherd strata intact. All the little critters will be happier for it and continue to contribute to your organic garden without having to re-establish themselves after you till. It would be like your neighborhood being hit by a tornado and having to rebuild. I certainly wouldn't feel very productive if that happened where I live.
If you haven't read "Square Foot Gardening" you might want to. In the book he suggests tilling in the fall to prepare the beds for spring, and winter too. Then just turning in some compost as you plant in the spring. If the beds are 4, no more than 5 feet wide you should never have to walk on them and may never need to till again if enough "stuff" is tilled in.
