Well, I believe I have figured out what happened. In between sowing my Keystone Giants and my Cali Wonders (separate containers), I left the room for a moment, and my son (3 years old) got into my starter mix and my seeds. He had made a huge mess with the seed starting mix, putting it everywhere. Either I had spilled a few cabbage seeds when I sowed them (just before the Keystone Giants), or he spilled some of them. Anyway, I scooped up the spilled mix, and put it back in the bag, then I used the mix to sow my Cali's. I must have put most of the spilled seeds into the container with the Cali's. And 4 days later, they started sprouting. I didn't notice how similar the seedlings for my cabbage and "peppers". The first leaves of many plants look very similar. I wasn't studying them, I was just excited that my "peppers" were up. I didn't think that anything was wrong. Anyway, I just looked at my cabbage and my "peppers" and I couldn't tell them apart, without the labels. Well, I guess it's because they are the same. I will be able to really tell very soon. I am putting the "peppers" into my cold frame and letting them go. If they can survive, as the cabbage should, they should start to get very cabbagy.

I would just recommend try different plants and see what you prefer. Some are called "frying peppers" and for "pickling" for a reason, depends on what you want. For bells I like "Golden Summer", very large plants that have light green peppers that are good tasting even before they ripen beautifully. "Flavorburst" is somewhat similar, with light green unripe peppers that are good also. "Big Bertha" is a very nice hybrid to red bell. "Corno di Toro" and "Carmen" are excellent bull horn peppers, sweet peppers at their best. "Giant Marconi" is a very nice long pepper, Burpee's "Big Daddy" is a vigorous ripen to yellow Marconi type pepper.

You should be able to over-winter peppers in San Mateo, with protection when frost is expected. AG-19 might not protect against a hard freeze in the 20's, though. I over-wintered peppers & eggplant when I lived in San Diego. They looked pretty sad during the winter months, but greened up again when the nights got warmer. At that point, I pruned them back hard to encourage new growth. Those plants bore early, but I never got as much in the second year as I did from new plants, so I abandoned the process. I never applied fertilizer to the second-year plants, though (since I didn't fertilize at all) so that might be worth trying. It would really be worthwhile over-wintering some of the hot peppers in other species, if you grow any of those. I'm actually surprised that peppers have done so well in San Mateo. I gardened close to Palo Alto for several years (next to Stevens Creek) and the cool wind off the Bay made warm-weather crops a challenge.

I just spent considerable time trying to ascertain the effects of high temps on different peppers, both "hot" and "sweet". That thread is just below and is titled; "How will extreme heat and high humidity effect my peppers?" Most seem to agree that the bells are tough to grow in the hottest part of summer. I just purchased some seed of the "bell type" Keystone Giant. The feed-store guy was confident they would perform in the heat. It's only seeds-n-time! And water, fertilizer, compost,.. did I mention time? We're not supposed to discuss a whole lot about "Other Vegetables" here in pepper land. So here's the short version; These should do well for you; Cucumbers, melons, okra, peas, amaranth, collards, eggplant (the long, skinny oriental types are more productive in heat). Others include Jerusalem artichokes, Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach, peanuts, hot peppers, and sweet peppers like Banana, Gypsy and Cubanelle should perform better than the bell types. Sweet potatoes enjoy the heat along with Swiss chard (with some shade), tomatillo and tomato. There are now many specific heat-tolerant tomatoes such as Heatwave, Solar Set and Sunleaper.... The Yardlong bean (asparagus bean) flourishes in the heat of summer and is as unusual as it is delicious. Of course, you should check with your local Cooperative Extention Service for more info. For more "other vegetable" questions, go to "Vegetable Gardening". Click on my username, then my "trade list" and email me with something you'd like to have, your address and, I'll send it to you New Guy. Ray