In my experience you don't need to plant in hills, just plant in the ground. The trellis should be perpendicular to the ground. I use 6 ft tall cattle fencing stretched between steel posts in the ground. It just looks like I'm planting next to a fence. In my experience you don't need to tie the plants to the trellis, just weave them in and out as they are growing, although I guess that depends on what your trellis material is. (If it has really big openings or small openings maybe you will need to tie your plant up.) Also, acorn squash, zucchini and cucumbers are small enough fruit that you won't need to make nylon slings for them. They can just hang and they won't break the plant. I've never grown butternut so I'm not sure if that is big enough to require a sling, but it might. Anyway, it all seems complicated at first, but after you've done it all once, it will all seem very simple. Good luck!!!