They did.
We had first noticed the large vines coming from beneath our deck in the spring. Slowly, but surely, day by day, these vines grew and grew and grew. Later in the summer, flowers began appearing on the vines. Yellow ones. And then the vines grew some more.
They actually started taking over the lawn. Wary of cutting them back, and unable to get the lawn mower beneath them, I just let the grass grow too. It was becoming the Great Pumpkin patch.
My neighbor claimed (in jest) that one of the vines actually crawled into his bedroom one night and tapped him on the shoulder - "Little Shop of Horrors" style. The vines were that big and invasive.
The best part about it was we ended up getting about six pumpkins from our patch (and good-sized ones too). And when you are a child, the more pumpkins, the better.
By the way, the vines came back the next two years. We did nothing to water them, cultivate them, they just grew.
Try it. It's easy!
Not that you should even need this, but here is a link with tips on growing the best pumpkins:
http://www.backyardgardener.com/wcgp/tips/10steps/10steps.html
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