We were given several giant pumpkin seeds from a farmer where my husband does his pumpkin carving.

I have several questions about starting and growing the pumpkins.

Should I start them indoors or outdoors? My last date of frost is supposed to be April 15th. Wouldn't starting them outside give them plenty of growing time? How many seeds per hill? The guy gave me 2-3 of each kind of seed.

If I start some of them inside, what type of pots should I use? I've found that peat pots don't break down well and pumpkins are very fussy about being transplanted.

Finally, when I decide which pumpkins I'm going to concentrate on, where do I prune the other vines? Right up to the main vine, a few inches out?

OOps, one more thing. GOPHERS!!!!!! Should we lay the gopher wire on the ground and mound the growing soil up on top of the wire (less digging)with a lip of wire sticking up, dig down (how deep, we both have bad backs) or make raised beds with wire underneath?

Thanks for any help or resources. Nancy