Beginner Gardening: How to encourage growth for small plants-besides fertilizing, 4 by Silvermist

Silvermist wrote:
I'm hoping to receive some tips on how I can encourage my plants to mature faster since May is here and I only have a few weeks before the summer sun comes along. I want to make sure my plants are strong enough for the upcoming hot weather. Are my squash plants, bell pepper, and cayenne hot peppers progressing normally or do I need to assist them in the maturing process?

My squash plants are more mature since they were sow in March & emerged the earliest,
the bell pepper are still small since they emerged later & took forever to germinate,
and lastly my cayenne peppers (with the same fate as my bell peppers) are my "hopeless cause" since I transplanted them too soon & they took forever to germinate.

*still hoping for the best