Do you have to plant pumpkin seeds...

Prepare the ground in early spring as soon as the ground is warm. Fertilize with a good four inches of rotting cow manure. Pumpkins do best in slightly acid or nearly neutral soil. If you live in an area where there is a danger of frost in late April or early May, start the seeds indoors about two weeks before planting outdoors. When the seedlings have the fourth or fifth leaf, set them out in hills the size of a pitcher’s mound, one plant to a hill. Space hills at least 20 feet apart. Pumpkins need a lot of sun and water, but don’t plant them in wet or dense soil — they need good, well-drained soil.