Vote in Veggie Madness: Help pick the best of the bunch
Veggie Madness: it’s not just a competition, it’s a cultural phenomenon, a whirlwind of heart-stopping moments, Cinderella stories, and surprise underdogs whose triumphs will echo through the ages.
As winter’s grip loosens and spring tiptoes in, the state finds itself captivated by dramatic rivalries that will turn neighbors into rivals, friends into frenemies, and quiet backyards into vibrant gardens.
Welcome to the spectacle of Veggie Madness, where 16 vegetables will go head-to-head, selected by CSU Extension horticulture experts and University faculty – even President Parsons weighed in!
Now, these sweet – and savory – 16 are set to embark on a journey filled with hope, growth, and the relentless pursuit of your vote.
From sweet potatoes to hot peppers, veggies will be paired off and which produce triumphs will all come down to you.
How to play along
Follow CSU Extension on Facebook or Instagram to make sure your voice is heard and votes are counted. Fill out a bracket and tag us on social – or DM us – by Thursday, March 28 to be entered to win a prize (and lifelong bragging rights)!
The Sweet (and Savory) Sixteen
Sweet Potatoes
Not for the novice gardener, since sweet potatoes need a long growing season, like that in the San Luis Valley. But, there's nothing better than the sweet taste of victory from growing your own. Marshmallows optional.
Cherry Tomatoes
Favorite variety: Sungold cherry tomato
Early, prolific, yummy, and a lovely orange color. Sungold cherry tomatoes are wonderfully sweet and have the perfect juicy-tender texture. An easy favorite!
Kohlrabi
Favorite variety: Early White Vienna
Easy to grow in Colorado, this versatile veggie can be used raw in salads but is also delicious roasted, and the leaves are edible too! It is full of fiber, vitamins B6, C and E as well as potassium and other nutrients.
Potatoes
Favorite variety: Purple Majesty Potatoes
These CSU-developed potatoes are not only easy to grow in our high-altitude environment, but are delicious and a great conversation starter when you share them with guests. Serve Purple Majesty potatoes boiled, baked, fried, mashed, or in casseroles as the perfect complement to Colorado beef.
Lettuce
Lettuce is my favorite vegetable because it is easy to grow and growing lettuce encourages me to eat healthy meals. I like to grow several varieties and mix with other veggies to make a fresh garden salad.
Broccolini
This hybrid between broccoli and gai-lan, an Asian kale variety, produces a virtually continuous crop of easy-to-harvest, delicious broccoli florets (rather than large heads). In my Littleton garden they regularly produce into December.
Sweet Peppers
Favorite variety: Corno di Toro
With what other vegetable can you have something as sweet as candy or as hot as... sweet? Corno di Toro. An heirloom Italian variety that was developed to bear fruit (and ripen to red, orange and yellow) at cooler temperatures and higher elevations. Sounds a lot like Colorado!
Carrots
Carrots are my favorite garden veggie because they are delicious and taste SO much better than store bought. It's like a whole different (and much better) beast! They are easy to grow, sweet, crunchy, come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, and are packed with fiber and nutrients including vitamin A, which helps your night vision! Doesn't get cooler than that! With succession planting you can harvest them all summer and into the fall.
Sugar Snap Peas
Sweet and crunchy, sugar snap peas are best right off the plant and into your mouth. Plus, they are one of the first crops to produce in the garden each season. Bonus: the plants naturally fertilize your soil!
Beets
Easy to grow in Colorado and healthy as greens or at maturity. Can be eaten a variety of ways, raw, cooked, or just the greens. Can grow in cold and warm weather, the beet comes in a variety of colors from white, pink, gold, or red and is healthy to boot!
Pumpkins
Favorite variety: Rouge Vif D'Etampes
Gorgeous color, perfect shape, and fantastic for both decorating and soup bases. I love the anticipation that comes with pumpkin growing, watching them develop every day, gaining shape and color.
Hot Peppers
Favorite variety:Pueblo chile
Besides producing fruit of varying levels of heat for cooking, hot peppers are easily grown in containers and can be quite ornamental - producing beautiful fruit, flowers, and attractive leaves. One of the great hot peppers? It has to be the Mosco (Pueblo) chile bred by CSU's own Mike Bartolo. Perfect for roasting!
Bush Beans
A little effort can go a long way with bush beans. They are easy and quick to grow. Between their flowers and bean colors - green, yellow, purple, and purple with white streaks - they also add some nice color to the garden.
Cucumbers
Nothing is cooler than a cucumber on a hot summer day. English cucumbers are delicious with their thin skins and delicate flavor. Snacking cucumbers are great for getting kids involved!
Hyacinth Beans
Easy to grow anywhere and so productive! The more you pick the more they produce. Pick bean pods before seeds mature and enlarge; blanch and sun/air dry; store well; use in any meat stew. Yum!!!
Swiss Chard
Favorite variety:Bright Lights
Great plant for bright colors for use in landscape ornamental planting designs. But also, of course, edible and a great substitute for spinach in spanakopita. Mostly keeps the bright colors with a quick cook.