Can I move my pumpkin plants now?

[burek]

I chucked a handful of 'giant' pumpkin seeds down on a lovely big pile of cow manure and they have grown to the most enormous proportions . Am very pleased naturally but they are all very close together (average distance of a foot) and my gardening book says to plant them 6 foot apart

Some of them are about to flower, others are a bit younger. Do you think it is worth me trying to transplant some of the smaller ones so that there is enough space for them all? Or just leave them be? I'm worried there won't be enough space for the pumpkins to grow between the plants. Anyone know?

You could always just cull some of the plants, afterall how many pumpkins are you likely to eat?

I've never grown pumpkins, but courgettes are reasonably happy to be transplanted at an early stage, and they are the same family (or genus or something, they are all squashes).

thanks - encouraging thought on the courgettes. Think I will go for it - if it doesn't work then it is the same as culling. Really hope they make it though as want to store excess for winter. Plus I am stingy and wouldn't like to see them go to waste!