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[less4success]

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[Axecleaver]

Worms can pop them out of the ground. Plant an inch deep in sets of 5-8 seeds per hill, in a hill about two feet across and a foot tall.  I like to flatten out the top and plant them in a circle pattern. Until the seeds sprout, you want to keep the ground wet about an inch under the soil, because they need the water to germinate. To test if you need to water pre-germination, stick your pointer finger in the hill up to the first knuckle, if it's dry at the tip, water.

Once they're out of the ground, cut back watering to about once a week (will encourage deeper root growth), unless you get brown or limp leaves (sign of inadequate water).

[Capsu78]

I wouldn't give up quite yet- I don't even put mine in until June 15 (zone 5) so they don't spend too much time on a dead vine...but mine are mostly used for decoration.
Around Labor Day when the fruit is still green, I take the kids and grandkids out to "score" a pumpkin with a face or initials and the year.  The scar from the score then reads 2016 or whatever and gives us a great dated photo of the family as they grow up-  earliest one is from 1993.

[Axecleaver]

If you like eating pumpkins, try Cushaw. I was introduced to this in the South a few years ago. Pumpkins really need the cold nights to turn into the tastiest squash. Cushaw tastes like a milder, more complex, sweeter pumpkin. You can do pretty much anything with them you can do to pumpkins. They make spectacular pies and a delicious vegetable for dinner with a little butter, salt and pepper. Some folks use them as sweet potato substitutes, that works too.  One plant can grow about 3-6 15# Cushaw squash.

They're also incredibly hardy and very resistant to pest and fungus damage.

http://www.rareseeds.com/green-striped-cushaw-squa/

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Trying pumpkins for the first time this year. We started them in pots indoors and transplanted them. They were two to a pot so there are pairs of plants pretty close together (I think nearly all survived the transplantation, amazing given how huge their roots were when they had just two leaves). From the description of planting seeds outdoors in hills, I'm guessing I don't need to try to find a winner between the pairs of plants, right? They all look pretty happy and have leaves bigger than my face.

[Capsu78]

You only need to "pick a winner" if your space is limited.  Mine are spaced 18 inches apart, I start with 3 seeds and winnow down to 1 per hill...and they cover every inch, even rolling out over the lawn (another reason I wait to plant until mid June).

[Axecleaver]

They grow best in groups. Shoot for 2-3 mature plants per hill.

If you want really big pumpkins, prune off all but one squash per vine. The plant will pour all of its energy into that one squash. This results in lower total yield but big single squash. Before the frost, you can trim off all but a foot or two of vine and drop that into sugar-water mixture which will make the squash continue to grow for a month or so, until the vine withers back. We grew 150# pumpkins when I was little, for kicks.

[Trifle]

If you like eating pumpkin, you might also want to try Delicata squash, if you haven't already: 

www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7012-delicata-js.aspx

Great for baking, stir frying, soup, etc.  Yum.