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.

Hopefully someone can better advise you on what to do next but they are definitely not dead. Even though some of that outer foliage may continue to wither and die from getting cold bit. But I still see some shiny bright green inner leaves, they are most certainly still alive. Not being from your area though, I'm not sure about what you should do from here, whether to trim them, let the damaged leaves fall off naturally, etc.... You can continue to keep them alive by covering them as the sun sets and taking it off in the morning once the sun comes up. Be sure not to wait too long, especially in your zone I would imagine temps under the plastic will rise quickly and drastically on a sunny day and you could kill your plants. I would also suggest putting an incandescent work lamp or lamps depending on the size of this pepper patch or some kind of reasonably safe heat source inside this tent down at plant level to keep them from freezing. Also, if you cover them with plastic at night, don't drape the plastic on them. You'll need to suspend it somehow above the foliage or any foliage touching the plastic will likely get zapped if temps drop to freezing. Use bamboo poles, tomato cages, long-handled tools, whatever you can find to prop the plastic up and just make a big ole' tent or tepee over them. If it's going to be windy, you'll have to find a way to secure everything and weight down the plastic around the edges. An extra note if using lamps: in my plastic hoop house, the first couple of nights I hadn't yet hung the lamps. Instead they were essentially sitting on the ground so the bulbs were up-turned...not the safest set-up but unfortunately it was done in a hurry. Two nights in a row I came out the next morning to blown broken bulbs that had been brand new. These lamps were often used outdoors in sheltered locations with no prior problems, so it got me thinking maybe very cold condensation dripped onto the hot bulbs and the sharp temperature difference caused the bulbs to crack and shatter. Once I got them hung and the bulbs were facing down and protected from drips by the aluminum collar I had no more problems with bulb breakage. I built a small walk-in tunnel to protect half a dozen pepper plants last year in my garden and it worked great until I forgot to turn the lamps on one freezing night. This year, I planted a larger dedicated pepper bed with 40 plants and enclosed the whole thing in a high plastic PVC hoop house I built. I have hanging work lights (the 8.5" kind with the round aluminum reflector collars) with anywhere from 60 to 125 watt bulbs hanging every 4 or 5 feet down near the plants in between rows. On near freezing nights, this is enough to keep them happy. On below freezing nights, I add the extra protection of draping sheets over the plants above the lamps inside of the hoop house, making sure the sheets are properly secured and can't come in contact with the lamps. Outside temps have gone down to 21 degrees so far this winter and they're all still producing and kicking butt in the first week of December in zone 7 here. This was experimental this year and I'm amazed at the results so far. Winters here are pretty much above freezing most nights and then will periodically dip below freezing for 2 or 3 days at a time before warming back up. We rarely see temps dip into the teens but sometimes it happens. Usually though, I don't have to run the lamps most nights so it's not costing much and I get to enjoy my summer veggies on into winter. There may be more efficient means, I haven't researched heaters very much yet. But right now this is working beautifully. I've noticed the peppers are slower to ripen this time of year and fruit is a little smaller (I'm assuming this is a combination of less daylight and colder temps) but I just harvested a basket full today of Bells, Marconi and Jalapenos and there are loads more on the way as well as blossoms still forming sporadically. Holy cow, how'd my reply get so long! Good luck with your peppers!

My first wish is for a wonderful, loving and safe holiday season for everyone. This is a first for me and it sounds like so much fun. My thanks to all who participate and especially to the Secret Santa Swap hostess, Kym, who obviously donates many hours to make this all happen. Here is my wish list and I thank everyone who takes the time to read it. Happy gardening next spring and a very Merry Christmas to all ... Mary Nepeta fassennii - 'Walker's Low' Catmint Rosemary - Rosmarinus angustifolia 'Pine Scented' Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe' - Joe Pye Weed Rudbeckia triloba - Three-lobed Coneflower Orlaya grandiflora - White Lace Flower Clasping Coneflower Artemisia Pentas Heuchera / Coral Bells Silene laciniata- Jack Flash Silene virginica - Fire Pink Forget-me-not Chasmanthium latifolium - 'Northern Sea Oats' ornamental grass Dutchman's pipe vine Wooly thyme Bacopa Alyssum - Basket of Gold (perennial) Bee Balm / Monarda - Jacob Cline Phlox Mexican Hat Daisy - Crazy Daisy Lettuce - Oakleaf or looseleaf variety Coreopsis 'Creme Brulee Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb'

I have found that I have had very little germination issue, even with seeds I purchased back in 2014 when I really started gardening intensively. I keep them all stored inside of closeable, lockable 3-ring binders in my basement, so they're kept in a consistently 68º and dark environment when I'm not going through them figuring out what to plant. I also keep a running document which includes a list of all of the seeds I have organized by plant type, where I bought them and quick reference information like DTM, size, color and a copy/paste of the description from the website I purchased them from. Unfortunately, each year I go way overboard and this year, in particular, I must be quarantined or banned from accessing any more online seed stores. I think I've ordered about 200 packets of seeds in the past month, mostly for Asian/various greens, lettuces and brassicas. I LOVE growing tons of greens and want to grow as many as I can this season. I generally use an entire packet (or more) per season of each type of green I grow, but I also do offer a fair share of many of my seeds to family, friends and neighbors. Either way, this is becoming a real addiction.. :) My plan this weekend is to get my grow station cleaned up from last season and get to HD for starting mix and plant tags. My station becomes a catch-all for everything I take to the basement during the summer and fall and must be reorganized each winter for new seed starting. I plan to get one round of greens (heading varieties) going toward the end of January in anticipation of possibly getting some of them planted into protected containers outdoors by the end of February. I was able to do so last season, but who knows what 2018 will bring. I will direct-sow remaining greens outdoors beginning in late February and early March. This is always a fun and exciting time of year and I look forward to seeing what everyone has in store!