Pumpkins & Pests

The Pumpkin patch after the recent heavy rains. There are 4 plants here and at the moment romping all over 'their' patch.I have usually planted pumpkins where I would have dug up the first early potatoes but this year we didn't have any earlies so seconds and main crop are still in the ground and the pumpkins needed their space out of the pots.
This is a patch which was under plastic to kill off the overgrown grass, it has just been roughly dug to loosen the earth and some compost from the Municipal site put down.
Some of the grass is beginning to come through again but hopefully the pumpkin foliage will keep most of it down.
They are stretching out at least 4 to 5 feet now from where they were planted with loads of flowers and small pumpkins along their length.

This is the largest at the moment, about tennis ball size, the rest are less than golf ball size. We are now wondering how many to leave on the stalk to mature and will we cut the stalks at a manageable length?
According to the seed catalogue they are;
Pumpkin Rouge Vif D'Etampes,
a large ,flat, heavy ribbed pumpkin with bright orange-red skin.The fruit can weigh up to 10 kg.A very unusual variety

As for the pests, I put down the organic Slug Gone fibre (see previous post)  not on the peas as I said originally but at the end of the Brassica bed where the first 4 Brussels Sprout plants were being nibbled.
The length here is approx 4 feet by about 1 inch deep, after the rain it has hardened into a crust and we will see if it deters the slugs from going munch in the night!
 It was €5 for the smallest pack which did stretch but if it lasts all season and works then it is value for money.
Major drawback is the smell of sheep, not for using close to the house I would imagine!
The very heavy rain has improved the soil considerably because no amount of watering was wetting it enough in the continued warm dry weather.