hilling

A farmer is hilling soil around the base of young corn plants.

Definition

Noun: - Agricultural practice: "hilling" refers to the act of mounding soil around the base of a plant, typically done in farming or gardening to support growth, protect roots, or encourage tuber development.

Verb (gerund or present participle of "hill"): - To mound soil: The action of creating a hill of earth around a plant, as in "hilling potatoes" or "hilling corn."

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Hilling is essential for potato cultivation to prevent the tubers from turning green. (The agricultural practice of mounding soil around potato plants.)
  • The farmer performed hilling on the young corn stalks to strengthen their roots. (The action of adding soil around the base of corn plants.)

• Verb (gerund):

  • She is hilling the tomatoes to improve their stability against wind. (She is currently mounding soil around the tomato plants.)
  • Hilling the beans helps retain moisture in the soil. (The act of mounding soil around bean plants aids water conservation.)

Advanced Usage

• "Hilling up": a synonym for the process of raising the soil level around plants.

  • After the seedlings emerge, gardeners should begin hilling up the potatoes. (They should start mounding soil around the plants.)

• "Hilling and earthing up": a more technical term used in horticulture for the same practice.

  • Hilling and earthing up are critical steps in growing leeks and celery. (These terms refer to mounding soil to blanch stems or support growth.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hill (verb): to form into a mound or heap.

  • The gardener will hill the soil around the rose bushes. (To create a mound of earth.)

• Hilled (adjective): having soil mounded around the base.

  • The hilled rows of potatoes looked neat and orderly. (The rows where soil had been mounded around the plants.)

Synonyms

• Mounding: the act of piling soil into a mound.
• Earthing up: a British term for hilling, especially for potatoes.
• Banking: piling soil against plant stems.

Phrasal Verbs

• Hill up: to mound soil around a plant.
  • You need to hill up the celery to make the stalks tender and white. (To pile soil around the stems.)

Related Idioms