What to plant with corn?

[me&thegals]

I plan pole beans and squash or melon!!!

Helps with nitrogen the corn needs more of, and the corn supports the beans.

Ahh! i see now!..the corn stalk acts as a pole for the pole beans! neat!!..so..bush beans wont really work with the corn then??

Bush beans will work fine. Last year I had a row in my corn patch that didn't come up and stuck in a row of bush beans. Even in the shade, they thrived.

This year, I have popcorn planted in my pole bean row to give the beans something to climb on

 

[miron28]

this is a good idea i didn't even think of this!

 

[HiDelight]

I planted a box this way this year ..I am so glad for this thread to have been started and all the good posts!

I did the square foot (sort of..my version anyway) with a corn a bean and a squash in each one ..then a row of sunflowers in the back with a row of beans to climb up those ...I wanted to put the fish in like back in the old days ..but my husband convinced me that the dogs would be disgusting dig them up ..eat them then kiss us ...so I opted out of that adventure...

some of my pumpkins maybe an Asian squash and some of those may be melons I forgot to move the labels when I transplanted them but figure the theory is the same and hopefully I will get at least one of each thing! so far the plants are all doing very well I think...
so maybe the old ways are the best ways for real?

anyone take some pictures of how their beds look when planted like this?

thanks for the thread

 

[bills]

The beans supposedly help the corn grow by adding nitrogen to the soil (I have heard that this isn't necessarily true, since most of the added soil nitrogen is associated with the bean roots). .

I'm not sure if the beans produce enough nitrogen to help this year's corn crop. But corn is a heavy nitrogen user and beans do set nitrogen, if not for this year's crop, they will help replace what the corn uses. It is still a good fit.

I like to plant corn in the area that the previous year I have grown beans. Corn likes the nitrogen that the beans fixed in the soil. Even then you still may need to feed it.

 

[digitS']

I had serious problems with pole beans smothering the corn when I've tried growing them together. But, I plant short varieties of corn and it may work much better if the beans are sown a week or so after the corn.

Bush beans should work fine with the corn, I'd think. Just make sure that there's room for both. I agree, the corn won't get much benefit from this year's beans.

I also often plant pumpkins close to the corn. They seem to appreciate sending vines in amongst the corn plants. As long as I can get the early weeds killed before the pumpkins start vining, they do a good job of suppressing any later weeds.

Steve