Spring can be so unpredictable. Every year I try to convince myself to hold off on planting out until mid-May. Do I listen to myself? No. So far it hasn't caused any big problems, but I've been lucky. Like you, I am in zone 6. The weather doesn't really seem to settle down until mid to late May.

Try to enjoy what plants did tough it out through this Spring, and plant a few weeks later next season. It's tough to do. After a few warm Spring days, all you want to do it to get your hands dirty, but try to fight the urge. It'll be better for your plants in the meantime. Now if only I could take my own advice....
:)
Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden

I can't give any helpful advice on monsoons, but have my own experience to offer on the bugs/birds. I do not spray in my garden at all, wanting the services of beneficial insects. What I have done that has worked so far is interplant veggies amongst wildflowers and other plantings. If you plant an eggplant by itself it is like putting a restaurant sign out for bugs, if there is nothing else in the area of course they will eat your eggplant.
Some crops I can't grow because of birds and bugs, like strawberries and corn. But everything else is doing well, and the young eggplant plants nestled in the wildflowers are not having a hard time and they are growing well. I must have at least 20 anole lizards and several toads and frogs in the garden and they are fat from bugs.