I'm happy to report that almost everything is growing well.

The first set of peas are at least 3 (if not 4) inches high and are in need of climbing material. The beets are also out and about 3 inches high, and I have thinned them to 3 inches apart. The swiss chard is doing so well that I had to thin them quickly to 10-12 inches; the thinned plants tasted quite good. Cucumbers and gourds have sprouted and are growing strong, ornamental popcorn has shot up in multitudes, the 2nd set of peas look as good as the first did, strawberry plants are starting to produce, tomato and basil plants are really starting to take off (the basil plants probably have 4X as many leaves now as they did when I planted them), and peppers are stable.

In fact, the ace peppers were looking yellow and wilty for a while, but now they have become firm and are healthier than the mandarins, which seem to have an insect problem. One of them is so bad I wonder if it will survive - will have to look into this. None of the broccoli, cauliflower or spinach sprouted; I am attributing this to the fact that the seeds were 5 years old. The cilantro has not sprouted yet, or if it has I haven't been able to distinguish.

I dug up the area where the above mentioned un-sprouted seeds were planted (some of the area may have had 5 year old beet seeds planted in it), and have freshly planted two new rows of beets. **Note: it is not necessary to plant seeds 1" apart, as beet seed-units contain multiple seeds and it is very unlikely that one of them will not sprout, in fact I had 2 or 3 seedlings in each spot with the first planting. Sow seeds 3" apart, which is what they are thinned if planted traditionally.
In the rest of the patch I will plant swiss chard, as it seems to do quite well in the garden and apparently can be harvested throughout the growing season.

I spread about 2" of goat manure/hay mix under and around the pepper, tomato, and basil plants, as mulch, and eventually fertilizer. I left 2" rings around the base of each plant to prevent burning. Hopefully these plants will do very well now.

Outside the fence the beans are growing and only about half have been eaten by the chickens (I think the other half are safe now because of their larger size); the clover is finally coming up, but is still very small; it seems that it is hard to get started, and next time I will try to use finer soil and better raked, and spread the seed more thickly. Jason's pumpkins are coming up well, and our corn is too (will need to weed it from grass very soon). The muskmelon hills have all been successful except for the two at the Eastern edge (possibly from competition with that weed bush that is obiquitous in that location), and there are 3 or 4 seedlings in each that are looking just as good and strong as the other vine plants. A few sunflowers are coming up, but as I feared many of the seeds have not germinated. There is also a second batch of beans, which I just threw down and barely covered with soil (maybe a week ago), which is just starting to break through the crust of the soil.

No lupine yet, but it does say germination can take between 2 and 4 weeks (planted two weeks ago, May 31st.)

The grass in the front lawn is starting to become quite thick, though another grass is popping up as well (though much more sparesly), and there is no sign yet of clover.

It has been quite hot and humid recently, which might account for some of the rapid growth we have seen. Rain has been variable; there have been one or two good downpours, and we have watered plants by hand much of the rest of the time, at least twice a week. If the weather keeps up as it has, I believe this will be quite a good season.