Planting Seed in a Hill?

[dullpain]

Wife plants Squash , Pumpkins seed in hills rather than rows. Does anybody know why ?

thanks

 

[MossRoad]

A woman was showing her daughter how to cook a ham. She said, first, cut an inch off the end, then stick it in the pan. Daughter asks why we cut an inch off the ham. Mom says she thinks it helps it cook better to have fresh meat exposed and that's the way her mom did it. So the daughter asks grandma how cutting an inch off the ham helps it cook better. Grandma replies she doesn't know either, but that's the way her mom taught her, too. So they go and ask great grandma how cutting an inch off the ham helps it cook better. Great grandma replies that the ham was too big for the pan, so she had to cut an inch off.

I'm not sure why people plant squashes in hills, but I do it too! I mound up dirt about three feet in diameter and a foot high. I plant about 6 seeds around the outside of the hill, then plant a dozen or so pole beans in the center. I put in some bamboo-like stems about 8' long into the hill about a foot or so and tie them together like a tee pee at the top. The beans climb up the bamboo and the pumpkins, squash, etc... grow around the bottom. Get two crops in the same space that way.

 

[jinman]

MossRoad, your answer wasn't worth a hill o' beans.

I plant a lot of the individual type plants in hills: melons, squash, tomatoes, pumpkins, gourds, etc. The reason I build a hill is similar to the reason a raised bed works well. It gives you a well-drained platform that encourages roots to grow. It also ensures that the plants are surrounded by well tilled soil when they are young and growing. In addition, I can dig a moat around the hill for watering and that also stimulates root growth.

Finally, plants like melons take a lot of space. You would waste a lot of a row by only planting a few squash seed every 4 ft or so. Once you get a couple of rain showers, how would you know for sure that what is coming up is a weed or "the good stuff." Planting in a hill makes it easy to identify where all your precious seeds are planted.

I don't know if my answer makes any sense, but there is some truth to the story MossRoad told. It's the way I was taught to do it.

 

[WayneB]

Couldn't answer it any better than Jim did!

Around here there is an annual pumpkin contest and the size of the pumpkins are something to see! Each year they will carve out the pumpkins and actually make boats out of some of them and paddle them down the local river. I have seen one that was more than 1000 pounds and a few over 900 pounds. That's a whole bunch of pie!

All of the supper big pumpkins are grown from hilled plants, easier to feed during the growing season.