What To Plant
After Corn
When the last stalks have browned and the rustle of corn leaves fades from the garden, the soil beneath is often weary.
The Best Crops To Plant After Carrots
(The Quick Answer)
Corn is a true heavy feeder, drawing deeply on nitrogen and leaving the ground lean if not renewed.
The best follow-up is to plant beans, peas, brassicas, carrots, or beets -crops that either give back to the soil or thrive on what remains without adding to the strain.
Avoid: Other heavy feeders like tomatoes, squash, or another round of corn; they will only deepen the nutrient deficit.
Why These Work
Corn’s appetite for nitrogen is legendary, so the most important step after harvest is to choose crops that restore what was taken or make the most of a leaner soil.
Legumes fix nitrogen, brassicas grow well with a fertility boost, and root crops like carrots and beets are light feeders that can follow with minimal stress on the soil.
Not sure which crop is right for following after your corn?
Let’s look more closely at the best options, why they work, and how to know when each one is the right choice.
Seeds are promises for the future, neatly tucked into paper.
Best Options to Grow After Carrots
(The Detailed Answers)
Bush or Pole Beans & Peas
Why it works: Legumes are the soil’s quiet philanthropists, pulling nitrogen from thin air and tucking it back into the ground to bring the fertility back.
Best when: Warm-weather beans after summer harvest, cool-weather peas in fall.
Consider: Inoculate seed for better nodulation and pole beans/peas can climb corn stalks left standing as a natural trellis.
Brassicas (Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale)
Why it works: Make use of residual fertility and benefit from the nitrogen added by legumes if planted in succession.
Best when: 6–10 weeks before frost for fall crops.
Consider: Side-dress brassicas with compost or balanced fertilizer; protect from caterpillars.
Carrots or Beets
Why it works: Light feeders that adapt well to post-corn soil structure.
Best when: Late summer sowing for a fall carrot/beet harvest, or overwinter in mild climates.
Consider: Keep seedbeds consistently moist for even germination.
Cover Crops (Clover, Vetch, & Rye)
Why it works: Rebuilds soil organic matter, prevents erosion, and suppresses weeds.
Best when: You’ve run out of growing season but want spring-ready soil.
Consider: Rye for winter-hardiness, clover for nitrogen, vetch for biomass.
More Unusual Companions
Fava Beans: Cool-season legumes that both feed the soil and offer a crop.
Spinach: Thrives in post-corn beds with extra compost, perfect for fall.
Bed Reset & Prep
✅ Cut corn stalks at the base; leave roots in place to decompose (Unless leaving them standing to use as a trellis for climbing peas/beans)
✅ Chop and compost healthy plant material and burn any with disease.
✅ Loosen the soil gently, keeping structure intact.
✅ Add 2 inches of compost to restore organic matter before replanting
✅ Mulch if planting a fall crop; water in deeply.
Growing food is more than just growing food.
It’s partnership. A quiet rhythm shared between you, the plants, and the soil, deepening with each season.
All About Timing Cheatsheet
If it's:
Late Summer: Beans, peas, carrots, beets, or brassicas.
Early Fall: Sow a winter-hardy cover crop
Cool climates: Favor peas, brassicas, or overwintering root crops (or a nitrogen-fixing cover crop)
Warm climates: Beans or fava beans, followed by greens.
The seed remembers the hand that sowed it.
What are Some Resources For Learning More About Seed Saving?
Books Worth Keeping on Your Shelf
Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth: A foundational classic, incredibly thorough with species-specific seed-saving techniques. Best for when you’re ready to dive deeper.
The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving by Seed Savers Exchange: Beautifully laid out and beginner-accessible. Offers clear charts and growing tips for over 75 crops.
Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Edward C. Smith: Not just about seeds, this one helps you build a thriving garden from soil to harvest, so your seed saving has something to grow in.
Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway: For the permaculture-inclined. Helps you see your garden as a living ecosystem — one that’s perfect for long-term seed stewardship.
Seed Sources & Swaps
Seed Savers Exchange: A nonprofit preserving heirloom seeds with a rich catalog and gardener-to-gardener swap network.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: Stunning catalogs and rare varieties. Great for gardeners who love color, flavor, and plant diversity.
Local Seed Libraries: Check your county extension office or library -many have seasonal swaps or borrowing programs.
Online Seed Swaps & Facebook Groups: Search “[Your State] Gardeners” or “Heirloom Seed Swap” on Facebook for regional communities.
Bethany’s Tip: Don’t feel like you need everything right away. One book, one envelope, and one seed head is enough to begin.
Go Forth & Grow...
Corn towers above the garden, feeding us with abundance and leaving behind hushed, golden stalks.
It reminds us that growth can be bold, but soil must be restored after such hunger.
Whether you filled baskets with ears or only roasted a few, you joined a rhythm ancient and communal.
This corn guide was just the beginning. Follow it to the next crops that will mend the ground and carry the story onward.
Harvest high, replenish low.
This guide was created with dirt under my fingernails, late nights, and a lot of care. No ads, no paywalls, just a simple offering for fellow growers.
If it helped you, inspired you, or made crop rotation feel just a LITTLE less mysterious (or even just if you enjoyed your ads-free time) there are two simple ways to say thanks:
Share the Love... Sow it Forward!
Share it with someone who might be interested in it.
Pin it, email it, or send it to that friend who always talks about tomatoes.
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Created by Bethany Archer, lifelong gardener and founder of Grow & Gather Life.