What's going on everyone? Welcome back to the Epic Gardening Podcast. Today we are taking a question from John who is wondering he's got a rooftop garden up in Los Angeles California and his bed garden, because he has a tower garden hydroponic as well,

he is growing beats, and he's wondering why his beats are deformed.

I don't know why I always chuckle when I hear the word

deformed when it comes to a vegetable. I actually like a deformed vegetable. There's a lot of

movements out there right now trying to sell ugly produce and I think that's fantastic because a lot of these

grocery stores are selling produce that looks only beautiful produce when a

slightly misshapen apple is just as tasty as a beautiful apple. But that's a story for another time.

His question is why his beet roots are too small or slightly deformed. And so this is a common question.

It's a crop that we're growing for its root

and not for its top.

And so a lot of the times, you can't really see what's going on,

especially if you've planted a lot of them. It's very easy to

troubleshoot a plant that has maybe nitrogen deficiency because you can see

that in the leaves, right? Or blossom and rot on tomatoes because you can see that on the bottom of your

tomato plant.

But when it comes to a root crop, sometimes it's hard to detect.

What we'll do today then is go over a few of the reasons

why Beets might not be growing the way

that you want them to grow.

The first one is probably the most important, and it's that Beets are not a plant that enjoys extremely intensive planting.

You need to thin them to at least one inch apart if if not three inches apart, and your rows should be at least

8 to 12 inches apart. Leafy tops, if you have very leafy beat tops and poor growth issues with the roots, a lot of the times

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