Mounding, or rowing, helps to keep the ground from reaching a point where the water in the soil would basically "drown" the plants. Having rows allows rain water to fall to between the rows. We have an annual rainfall of about 60 inches so rowing or mounding in our area is essential. Perhaps this is not a problem in some climates.

Mulching the rows or mounds is also important. It helps to solve the problem you mentioned about rains washing away the mounds.

Those who garden in raised beds would have no need to mound soil.

CMK,

I am going to assume that you are from a more arid region.

I have both raised areas and fairly level areas with a very slight slope. I am very conscious of drainage in the spring where a 3 or 4 inch rain in an hour can be kinda bad. The ground gets soggy and if not ELEVATED, the plants could be inundated without excellent drainage.

I have raised beds and have never mounded. I also am in CA where we get very little rain from April til October, and have to hand water everything.
I mounded up for my giant pumpkins this year, but that was to mound up some manure and compost around the gopher cages.
NT

I live in the desert of Southeast Nevada and have never found a need to grow in mounds. A lot of rainfall or too much water is not an issue.

Greg
Southern Nevada

LOL! You guys are fast to reply!

-grandad, thanks for the explanation! Very interesting. So one wouldn't even need to bother mounding if their soil naturally drains fast?

-wayne, it is considered semi-arid over here in eastern WA. We still get our share of rain in the spring, but quite dry in summer.
CMK

I've never mounded for squash in many different gardens in 3 states: WV, MA, NY.

I trellis my squash and cukes. Don't mound. And our weather is very similar to parts of Eastern WA, particularly Chelan-Douglas Counties.

Dan

There are parts of eastern Washington with only 8" of annual rainfall but all of it, isn't that dry. Now, if we can just catch some of this snow when it melts . . .

I read somewhere that the word "hill" as used in gardening is actually a Dutch term and means a "mound of vegetation" and doesn't apply to a mound of earth, necessarily.

Gathering the soil around the roots of some plants, especially after applying fertilizer, seems to be very beneficial to plant growth in my garden. So, even if the rows or squash hills may not be mounded early in the season, I hope to gather that soil about them later on.

Much of my gardening is in raised beds and close planting means I can't move much soil around in those beds.

Steve

Mounding squash and melons is done so that the plants can root above damage caused by the dreaded SVB. It's done later in the season and not at planting.