Pumpkin vines do tend to lose the first flowers without setting fruit. That's normal. Squash blossoms come in boy and girl variations, so to speak. Girl flowers will have a little lump that looks like a mini pumpkin to be- that's the ovary portion of the plant. The "boy" flowers don't have that. What they have is the pollen the girls need to make those bumps into pumpkins. So the main thing you need is bees, or some other pollinator- like you and a q-tip. You use the q-tip to transfer some pollen from the boy flower stamen to the girl. I'm not sure what you mean with having one big one 4 months early. Pumpkins, like all plants, have a harvest time, that is days from planting to harvest the fruit/veggie. You would need to look at your variety to see what that predicted average time is. Not all of them harvest just before Halloween, some are ready in August, some September, and some in October/November. Depends on the variety, where you live, and such. To grow a pumpkin, you need good rich soil, and it needs about an inch of water a week. It also needs heat and full sun to grow in. You can fertilize it if need be, but too much will just get you a vine without much in the way of fruit. There are other gardening sites on the great internet that can give you more in depth explanations and directions, and I suggest you look at some of those. Most of us here are better at cooking them than growing them, after all.
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