Correct. Keeps the plants from running into the problem of having water saturated roots (i.e. "wet feet") in times of heavy rainfall. This could be compared to the same type of problem as water soaking a potted plant in a plastic pot with no holes in the bottom.

Yeah, We had about 2½ inches of rain today....put that in your garden with no thought about such events. Last week we had about 2½ inches too.

We plant all of our 1600+ pumpkins and squash on mounds. We have a flat garden and a couple times in the last 5 yrs we have had excessive rain fall (like 2 0r 3 inches at once) and the only thing that saved our crops was those mounds...in fact that was all you could see in the lake where our garden stood. I like mounding the plants because it also makes it easier to watch for bugs near bases (like SVB). We also plant many bush variety of pumpkins and the mound perches the plant up enough it makes them easier to pick in the fall. Also the hills are a lot easier to hoe around.

Now on the other side of NOT mounding your pumpkins,squash or etc.
My dad has around 2000 pumpkin plants at his place. His entire field has a slight slope that runs into nearby lake. He never mounds his pumpkins as the water would catch on the mounds and run right thru the soil wiping out his plants...he learned this the hard way.

When a pkt's instructions say to plant "in hills" this does not necessarily mean that one has to mound up soil. It's a reference to a planting pattern rather than "altitude." When I refer to a hill of squash, for instance, I simply mean that I planted a couple seeds together in one place, rather than in a row. Occasionally I'll plant several hills, scattered throughout a section of the garden, though I find rows to be more efficient use of space. Some of my "hills" are actually depressions, where I can dump some water at the base of my plants, and not have it run away.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Some of my hills are ridges in a row fashion with an eye to drainage off the garden. After about a half dozen heavier rain events this season, it is easy to see the wisdom of hills, ridges, drainage channels, ans some raised beds.

Ah, Geoge, Last year was the only year in many, many years that low spot planting would have been very good here.

Our soil is sandy so I plant squash in circles level with the surrounding soil, and make a shallow trench and ridge around the circle to keep water in. I'm not worried about waterlogging. I've often wondered why planting instructions assume everybody's soil is the same.

The soil here is so well drained that it is difficult to keep it moist enough. Hills, the mounded up kind, are a detriment here. They make the soil around the plants even more droughty.

The other hill, which is just a cluster of plants is fine.

This is out of the ordinary. In most soils, mounding up the hills is beneficial.

Jim

Thanks for all of the responses. We typically also do the trench and ridge thing to keep the water in! It seems wrong that you would create mounds for drainage for squash and cukes when they seem to need more water than most plants. Maybe they are more susceptible to root rot. We've had 6 inches of rain in June which is 2 inches more than average. Not had to water in 2 weeks which is a good thing!

I found this very humorous, but I had to hide my mirth. A woman I know is the sort of person who does a little bit of reading and then considers herself an expert. She did some reading on produce gardening. She wanted to show me her expertise, so she invited me to tour her newly planted produce garden. I began to gasp and choke, trying not to show my amusement, when she proudly showed me her two foot tall melon mounds. I told her I was having an asthma attack.

The woman doesn't take kindly to advice, so I didn't say anything. I figured somebody else could tell her, or she might figure it out for herself if she investigated why her seeds didn't sprout.
Lorna

Old farmers I knew -- we're talking WWII -- dug a hole, filled it with detritus, and made a mound over that for vining vegetables and perhaps some others I have forgotten being rather young at the time.

I have all raised beds and don't see why I need to plant Squash, Mellons, etc. in raised beds. Any comments?

I have fairly good drainage, but those spring rains like to come and sometimes keep coming up the Mississippi/Ohio Valley.

"I have all raised beds and don't see why I need to plant Squash, Mellons, etc. in raised beds."

I assume you are asking why plant in mounds in raised beds? Like Wayne said - spring rains tend to be quite heavy in many parts of the country and can easily drown some crop's roots even in raised beds. Every year I don't mound I live to regret it. It is easy to add water but much harder to take it away. ;-)

But you don't indicate your location at all so we can't know what those rains may be like where you are. Try some plants both ways and see which works best for you.

Dave

a hill or mound should not be higher 2-3in above base soil level

ww2 planting methods · More Info

I'm in NC and we had a really dry period followed by a really wet period this year. My watermelons survived both periods. Planted watermelons in "holes". Basically I just tilled the ground and the tilled area ended up maybe an inch lower than the untilled area around it. The watermelons flourished the entire summer, I never really watered them, aside from 3 times where I fed them liquid plant food a gallon of water each time between two sprawling plants. However, the pumpkins I have planted the same way are not happy. I learned my lesson for next year. Hill pumpkins/squash. Don't bother with hilling watermelons.

Candis, what kind of pumpkins are they?

Same here with cantaloupes. The excessive rains gave my watermelons a good second wind, but the loupes drowned and diseases took over, too wet, too cloudy, for too long a period, cukes & squash too. Tomatoes took a big hit and several plants are dying young, but oddly the peppers love it.

Mounds provide more soil depth underneath. I often don't mound, but I have deep soil that drains well.

1. soft soil. everywhere the ground gets hard from being packed by rain etc. you till turn to get it loosened but mounds are even better. this helps promote an early strong root structure.

2. increased aeration. if the dirt is much looser, than that equally means that much more oxygen getting to the roots in between rain/water cycles. aeration is why hydroponics grow faster than soil. the more aeration the faster your crops will grow.

3. better drainage, this is good because roots often like a mix of fresh air and water the best so if the top of your mounds are dry, yet your plants have plenty of water, then you probably have air pruned roots and this will definitely accelerate growth. note better drainage can be bad for young plants that havent establish a deeper root system. So this can be a con at first then definitely a pro once your plants roots are well established.

4. increased soil temperature. the ground being flat protect your roots naturally. the ground is the strongest blanket or insulator on earth. when you lift your soil above your ground level you are creating a new environment for your roots now which can be dangerous. if you live somewhere that experiences 80-100+ degree F days, you don't want to be putting your plants in mounds. If roots reach the temperature as air, which they can in mounds, rather than being protected in flat ground, they can easily bolt rather than naturally switching based on photoperiod and season change aka the natural way since they are stressed out or even feel like they are dying. plants do what they need to do to survive including going right to bold to produce seeds and ruining your harvest. roots like to be much cooler than the actual plant material above ground. I've learned this the hard way with growing in hydro totes outdoors. a good solution is to mimic nature and put the totes in the ground or paint them white or add reflective material. there's no such thing as failures when it comes to anything science related. if you want to know best. f*** up. then you will know and remember.

ultimately, mounding is obviously more work to be done and definitely will result in better yields or bigger plants but isn't always applicable if you can't keep your mound temperatures at good temperatures. when it's too hot for your plant, its also perfect for pathogens to breed and ruin your crops as well. a reliable grow beats a failed grow. do what works.

a personal tip of advice is to make your farming is easy as possible since its for providing food so things like hose timers, hose manifolds with valves, and drip tape are good things to have. if you use these which will obviously optimize and simplify your gardening, you don't really want mounds. i know people that do mounds every year and dont use tape and ive done mounds but i personally prefer keeping things flat now and just using drip tape. plant them, forget about them, then harvest and eat em, another good system is just bury rows of pvc where your garden rows are, buy 50c walmart bags, buy a bunch of net cups which are dirt cheap, get scissors and cut out holes in the bottom. line the net cups to stop roots from clogging the pvc then buy a hose float valves that are also cheap then just daisy chain all the pvc together, and run one single hose to one of them and you got an entire self watering only when it needs it, hybrid system. props to larry hall for that. look him up on youtube. set it up, forget about it, then harvest.

I plant in some elevation for certain vine crops. Corn nearly level. Carrots and late broccoli/cauliflower/ cabbage need a slight depression. The carrots like a slightly lower "trench"