What should I plant between corn rows?

I have a corn patch that is about 30' X 20" and am harvesting my sweet corn now. I figure in about another week I should just about have all of it harvested. So I'm thinking that as soon as I'm through picking the ears then I should plant either a cover crop of some type in between the rows or maybe some kind of a vegetable that will grow this late in the season between the cornstalk rows.

I figure if I leave the stalks standing then it will provide shade for a couple more weeks till something is up and going. In a couple more weeks the corn stalks will have dried up and our annual summer drought season will be here. In late July and August our temps can be 100 or more thus limiting most vegetable crops but not sure about any kind of a cover crop such as wheat, rye, soybean, etc.

Any suggestions out there?

[Cosmic]

Try a grass fescue or clover variety. Probably better to plant it early while the corn is small or even when seeding the corn. Can be used as both weed control cover and fertilizer. Plow down in fall to increase the soil goodness.

http://www.kfgc.org/99_meeting_papers/Renovation.html

Using the right cover crop in between the rows means you may have to do a lot less tilling during the growing of the corn. Maybe try a planting after the corn is up and had a good tilling to give a mounding around the corn stalks.

[edcopp]

Turnips might do fairly well if you have a need for late turnip greens, and later turnips

[devittjl]

for next year I would consider bush or pole beans.

Depending on high close you plant your corn it may be difficult to harvest the beans.

Beans are nitrogen fixers and corn uses a lot of nitrogen. Good companions.

As far as as leaving the stalks up, if you rototill that may cause more trouble than is worth.

[Wolf mom]

The indians used the "Three Sister's" method: Corn, beans & squash. Corn plants are living stakes for the pole beans, beans help corn by "fixing nitrogen and the prickly squash (pumpkin) vines protect the corn from animal invaders and have the benefit of open ground between the corn & bean hills.

This would be a good thread for the gardening forum....

[fin29]

We use soybeans as a cover crop with corn. Potatoes follow corn in our crop rotation (as many do), and soybeans are known to remove potato scab from the soil and add lots of nitrogen, which helps with plant formation in the cool spring, when we plant. We seed the soy between the plants when the corn's about 8" high with the seeder, but you could just broadcast it. We then till it under before it goes to seed, but you could let it mature and harvest the beans.

[Maura]

I was also going to recommend three sisters. You can get a late bean crop going.

[Cyngbaeld]

Maybe some field peas like pink eyed purple hulled that can handle heat well. What you don't eat makes good livestock feed, including the stalks and leaves.