hilling

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act or process of heaping soil up around the base of plants.

   Like banking snow against a wall to shield it from the cold.

   After the second hilling, the celery stalks blanched to a pale, tender white.

   Farmers schedule a final hilling before the potato canopy closes over the rows.

   Similarmounding

   Note

   A gardener's word built plainly from hill + -ing, naming a job rather than a landform. Drawing soil up the stems blanches shoots, steadies tall stalks, improves drainage and keeps developing tubers out of the light. That last purpose is why it pairs so naturally with potatoes, as in the hilling of potatoes. It is usually uncountable, though growers count the rounds: a second or a final hilling.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of hill.

   By midday they were hilling the last of the bean plants.

   Each spring the crew begins hilling the asparagus beds.

   Note

   The verb form behind progressive tenses (they were hilling the beans) and, as a gerund, behind phrases like hilling them twice a season. The verb hill covers both piling something into a mound and drawing earth around plants, so the participle can carry either meaning. When it takes a direct object, it is the verb. When it takes the and of, it is the gardening noun.

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