Howdy Folks, we have some cold weather coming. There are many ways to protect tomatoes and peppers from the cold, and I won’t go into all of them because every situation is different and Google has lots to recommend, such as here and here.
Keep up to date with weather in the Houston area on Space City Weather.
Potted plants
If you still have your tomatoes and peppers in a pot, it might be a good time to put them in a bigger pot, say 1 gallon with some fresh potting soil. When temperatures outside get to 50 or below, just bring the pots inside. They can last up to 3 days inside the house, but if temperatures are above 50, they prefer to be outside in the sun.
Plants in the ground
If you don’t have many planted in the ground and the weather is going to be less than 28, you could just dig them up. The plants are not likely to have developed much of a root system by now.
Bottles and jugs of water surrounding the plant will put off heat as they freeze and can make the air tempature a few degrees warmer.
Covering with bottles, plastic sheets, and blankets are good options too. Just make sure the cover is not touching the plant.
Best of luck with the cold this coming week. Do what you can, but don’t worry too much. It’s a roll of the dice to start plants this early. Some years you get early tomatoes and some years you have to start again.
UPDATE 2.11.21
Neil Sperry Update has a lengthy description on what to protect in the coming freeze. All potted plants should come indoors. Tomatoes and peppers should come indoors (dug up if planted). Citrus trunks should be protect via mulch, soil, leaves, blankets, etc. This is going to be a hard, hard freeze for the plants.