depends... want a big pumpkin or multiple smaller ones. I like the sugar pie pumpkins. They are easy to grow, but start as soon as possible, indoors in pots if your soil is still cold. You might still get frost? Have somethng handy to cover them until danger is past.

Christian,

thanks for the reply. About medium size. I just want results as to not disappoint kids. I always thought that you could not transplant pumpkin so I have been waiting till warm weather but we are having cold weather here in Montreal.

You can transplant them, I do it all the time since I start mine from seed very early.

I always read direct sowing is best, but I often start mine in seed cells and they've done fine. Either way, plant them now. Be sure to put them somewhere that gets at least 8 hours of direct sun per day, the more the better.

If the kids want to carve them, Connecticut Field or Jack O'Lantern are standard-size carving types commonly available in garden center seed racks that should be fine. If anyone's thinking of eating them, Sugar Pie would be a fine choice.

A final thought - if you're long on kids and short on garden space, and you want each kid to get their own pumpkin, you might consider a miniature variety like Jack Be Little or Hooligan. In my experience they're more prolific than regular size pumpkins, getting up to several fruits per plant.