David Lozano of San Antonio was inspired to plant a community garden after watching Ron Finley’s talk. Photo: courtesy of David Lozano

Ron Finley is motivating people across the country to pick up a shovel and “get gangsta” by planting fruits, vegetables and herbs in their neighborhood.

Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LASince appearing on the TED2013 stage to talk about why he plants edible gardens in the nooks and crannies of South Central Los Angeles, Finley has been profiled in The New York Times and appeared on Russell Brand’s talk show, BrandX. On Saturday, Finley was featured in this CBS News segment, which tells the story of Terence Satler, a 20-year-old who once dreamed of playing football but now is in culinary school. He says that gardening alongside Finley taught him the joy of food.

“The most extensive knowledge I’ve acquired so far has been through Ron’s garden,” Satler tells the CBS cameras. “He has things you would never see. Especially in my ‘hood.”

We in the TED office are also hearing stories of those influenced by Finley to pick up a trowel.

In April, David Lozano of San Antonio watched Finley’s talk and wrote the gardener, saying, “I saw you on TED yesterday and have watched [your talk] three times since … Needless to say my household is going to plant a food garden for everyone to enjoy. We live just two miles south of the Alamo in San Antonio… How do you deal with stray dogs digging up the garden? And could you give me a suggestion what kind of herbs and vegetables you would have a novice gardener plant?”

Last week, Lozano wrote Finley to share an update, with images attached.

“These pictures are of everything when it was planted last month. In the whiskey barrel, we planted zucchini. We decided to not plant directly in the ground due to the metal recycling plants refuse in the air close to our house,” he wrote. ”The neighborhood grocery store has been planted for a month now. We are getting our first jalapeños.”

Lozano’s zucchini, planted in a whiskey barrel. Photo: courtesy of David Lozano

More herbs and vegetables in a planter. Photo: David Lozano

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Ron Finley electrified the audience at TED2013 with his fresh take on guerilla gardening. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

This weekend, we opened up the Style section of The New York Times to see a very familiar face — renegade gardener Ron Finley, whose talk “A guerilla gardener in South Central LA” now has more than 900,000 views. In the article, Finley describes what he calls “the TED effect” — the slew of interest that his electric talk at TED2013 has brought from celebrities, television shows and companies with collaboration ideas. Finley’s down-to-earth response?

“All the attention in the world won’t do my dishes,” he tells the paper.

Meanwhile, Malcolm London — the 20-year-old poet who will appear in Tuesday night’s TED Talks Education special on PBS — was interviewed in The Chicago Tribune this weekend. “On Tuesday night, if you tune into PBS’ one-hour special ‘TED Talks Education,’ you’ll see host John Legend and an array of prominent speakers, including Bill Gates, giving impassioned talks about ways to reinvent education,” the article reads. “You’ll also see Chicago’s Malcolm Xavier London performing a spoken-word poem about the racial and class tensions he experienced as a double honors student growing up in the tough Austin neighborhood while attending the more well-to-do Lincoln Park High School.”

The article asks London tough questions about his low GPA in high school and the fact that, while he’s teaching poetry, he hasn’t yet gone to college. He tells the paper that his high school performance was, in a way, a protest.

“I would leave my neighborhood and go to school, and I was seeing how divided the city was,” London says. “I felt whatever I was learning in class, wasn’t teaching me why people on the West Side were dying every day … I knew that four years later I’d be able to get into a distinguished college, but school wasn’t teaching me how to survive or better my community, and I wanted to change where I came from.”

Also in the news: TED-Ed was just named one of TIME magazine’s “50 Best Websites of 2013.”

Ron Finley, the self-described renegade gardener, gave a hit talk at TED2013 on his gardening efforts all over South Central LA. Finley is an object of my fascination for more than one reason: In the 35 days since Finley’s talk went live, he’s left 178 comments on the site, making him the 3rd most prolific speaker commenter. (Trivia: the 1st and 2nd are Curator Chris Anderson and TED2011 speaker Janet Echelman.) To put it in context, as someone who receives speaker comments in a daily digest sent to me by email: Of the 1,250 speakers on the site, only 211 have left comments, and the average number of comments they’ve left is 19.

Here are my 10 favorite comments left by Ron Finley on TED.com — with just a touch of context, since that’s how I receive them in my inbox. Click on the link to see the full discussion going on in the thread:

Mar 7 2013, on his own TED Talk:

“THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I’M SITTING HERE CRYING READ YOUR PASSIONATE COMMENTS. MAN THIS IS A BIG TASK!!! WHAT THE HELL DID I GET INTO!?!?LOL CAN’TSTOPWON’TSTOP!!”

Richard Turere: My invention that made peace with lions

Mar 31 2013, on Richard Turere’s talk about defending his land from lions:

“Im so Proud Of my ‘LiL Brother Richard!!! Seeing him here brings me to tears. So happy for him. He deserves it all. Someone offered to sponsor him at MIT this summer, as soon has he walked off stage!! That is what TED is About!! . . .That’s me barking in the back ground!!!”

Mar 7 2013, on his own talk:

“EACHONEREACHONEEACHONETEACHONE”

Mar 7 2013, on his talk:

Thank you A! Start NOW. No Wait!!

Apr 2 2013, also on his own talk:

“Thank You Leslie!! Find The Train! ~r”

Stephen Ritz: A teacher growing green in the South Bronx
Apr 4 2013, on Stephen Ritz’s talk on gardening in the South Bronx:

“STEPHEN YOU ARE THE TRUTH! A REAL LIFE GAMECHANGER, A REAL LIVE, LIFE CHANGER!!! TED PRIZE!!!!!! AllGoodThings! ~r0n”

Mar 20 2013, on his own talk:

“Im working on IT!!!. . .Give me Thyme”

Mar 13 2013, also on his talk:

“Plants SunFlower First.”

Mar 14 2013, you guessed it, on his own talk:

“Hi Helena, Waiting for you & your Big Ass Shovel!!”

Mar 20 2013, by far my  favorite comment of his ever, on his talk:

“We have an agreement, They don’t pee in my garden I don’t Eat TheM!”

TED Active attendees help Ron Finley “plant some s***.” Photo: Nick Weinberg

“You ain’t gangsta unless you have a garden,” says Ron Finley of LAGreenGrounds.org. In this special video for CNN, Finley shares more about the idea he posited at TED2013 for improving health in his neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles — planting edible gardens wherever a strip of land is available.

“What we do is literally put vegetable gardens in homes in South Central, free of charge,” says Finley.Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA “We like front yards better than back yards because of the visibility front yards have. We want people to see the food.”

Last weekend, Finley held a full-out gardening party to plant a vegetable garden at The R Cloud House, an artist-in-residence house conspicuously located across from the L.A. Watts Towers. 20 TEDActive attendees attended the party, with friends in tow, working alongside Finley and volunteers from Heavy T’s Grow Show. Mud Baron from Muir Ranch donated soil, while Ray Cirino and Large Marge Sustainables provided food for volunteers. Together, the group planted corn, tomatos, strawberries, dill, thyme, basil, mint and swiss chard.

See tons of incredible photos shot during this planting party »

And read an essay Finley wrote for CNN »

In today’s TED Talk, guerilla gardner Ron Finley tells the story of how he was issued a citation, and then a warrant for his arrestRon Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA, all for planting delicious vegetables in the 150 x 10 foot patch of earth in front of his house in South Central, Los Angeles. It’s a rousing talk — one that will make you want to stand up and cheer … and maybe even plant some kale. As Finley says, “Let’s all become gangsta gardeners. We have to flip the script on what a gangsta is. If you ain’t a gardener, you ain’t gangsta. Let that be your weapon of choice!”

Yesterday, the day before Finley’s talk made it to the TED.com homepage, TEDActive’s own Nick Weinberg and Sean Gannet stopped by Finley’s gardens in South Central. Above, a view of the strip of no-man’s-land between the sidewalk and the street that Ron planted with leafy green vegetables and flowers. And below, look for more photos: a garden in a swimming pool and a closeup of Ron’s famous red Swiss chard.

Inspired? Check out these great TED Talks about growing your own food:

Britta Riley: A garden in my apartmentBritta Riley: A garden in my apartment Britta Riley wanted to grow her own food (in her tiny apartment). So she and her friends developed a system for growing plants in discarded plastic bottles — researching, testing and tweaking the system using social media, trying many variations at once and quickly arriving at the optimal system. Call it distributed DIY. And the results? Delicious.

Stephen Ritz: A teacher growing green in the South BronxStephen Ritz: A teacher growing green in the South Bronx A whirlwind of energy and ideas, Stephen Ritz is a teacher in New York’s tough South Bronx, where he and his kids grow lush gardens for food, greenery — and jobs. Just try to keep up with this New York treasure as he spins through the many, many ways there are to grow hope in a neighborhood many have written off, or in your own.

Pam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapesPam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapes What should a community do with its unused land? Plant food, of course. With energy and humor, Pam Warhurst tells at the TEDSalon the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change the narrative of food in their community.

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about foodJamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, West Virginia, TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food.

And another great TEDx talk on the subject: Roger Doiron’s My subversive (garden) plot. A vegetable garden can do more than save you money — it can save the world. In this talk, Roger Doiron shows how gardens can re-localize our food and feed our growing population.

Here, more images of Finley’s amazing gardens.

In an abandoned swimming pool behind his house, Ron Finley is growing artichokes, brocolli, kale and more, plus succulents and cacti (check out the mini garden behind the blue tiles). The blue barrels are collecting rainwater, and the black bins are for compost. Photo: Nick Weinberg

A closeup of Ron’s famous Swiss chard. Easy to grow and delicious to eat. Photo: Nick Weinberg

If you walk into the cemetery in Todmorden — a small town in northern England — you will find vegetables and herbs defiantly growing. Ditto if you examine the strips of land in the middle of the town’s roads, the area in front of its elder-care home, or the landscaping around its railroad station.  You will find corn as high as an elephant’s eye in front of Todmorden’s police station, and fruit trees planted around its health center. Everywhere you turn in Todmorden, edible plants abound.

In this talk given at TED London Salon, Pam Warhurst explains why this is the case — because three and a half years ago, several citizens decided to plant herb gardens in public spaces, permission be damned. The effort blossomed into Incredible Edible, a revolution not only in the way the town eats, but also in the way they think about public space. Everyone is encouraged to plant — on their own property and in public — and anyone is welcome to pick the food and cook it for dinner. The effort has not only brought in “vegetable tourists,” but has been copycatted in 30 towns in England, as well as by communities in America, Japan and New Zealand.

“So many people don’t really recognize a vegetable unless it’s in a bit of plastic,” says Warhurst in this talk, which got a rousing standing ovation. “We have a motto: If you’re eat, you’re in.”

In honor of Warhurst, here a look at 9 other TED speakers who see incredible potential for change in vegetables.

Stephen Ritz: A teacher growing green in the South Bronx
Stephen Ritz’s students may grow up in the poorest Congressional district in America, where obesity is an epidemic. But he is working hard to change their relationship to food while increasing their options for employment in the future. Ritz and his students have created “edible walls,” chock full of vegetables and herbs, which have been installed in 100 New York City schools as well as many office buildings — even in New York’s Rockefeller Center. Check out our playlist of 10 talks from inspiring teachers, an ode to Ritz’s work.

William Li: Can we eat to “starve” cancer
Can bok choy, kale, artichokes and parsley stave off cancer? At TED2010, Dr. William Li explains that cancer cells start out as microscopic, harmless nests that can’t grow because they don’t have blood vessels supplying them with nutrients. Li gives an overview of anti-angiogenesis, the strategy of preventing the growth of blood vessels to a tumor by eating these cancer-fighting foods. Notice how many are vegetables.

Suzanne Lee: Grow your own clothes
What, you ask, is vegetable leather? Fashion designer Suzanne Lee reveals her work creating a leather-like fabric from green tea, sugar and microbes — and shows the beautiful designs she’s created using it.

Terry Wahls: “Minding Your Mitrochondria”
In this incredible talk, Dr. Terry Wahls explains how she used her diet to cure herself of MS and leave her wheelchair behind. She wants everyone to eat nine cups of fruits and vegetables a day — including three cups of B vitamin-rich greens, three cups of sulphur-rich mushrooms and cabbages, as well as three cups of colorful, nutrient-rich veggies.  (Filmed at TEDxIowaCity.)

Graham Hill: Why I’m a weekday vegetarian
The founder of TreeHugger.com, Graham Hill is well aware that meat causes more emissions than all transportation combined, and that beef production uses 100 times the water than vegetables do. And yet, giving up meat is too extreme for him. Here, he ekes out a solution — relegating meat to the weekends and increasing vegetable consumption during the week.

Barton Seaver: Sustainable seafood? Let’s get smart
Seafood is one of our healthiest protein options, but overfishing is severely harming our oceans. Here, chef Barton Seaver suggests a simple way to keep fish on dinner table for years to come. As your mom would say, “Eat your vegetables!”

Roger Doiron: My subversive (garden) plot
Gardening isn’t just for old ladies, says Roger Doiron — it’s a subversive action about taking back power over our diets, over our health, and over our bank accounts. Here he explains why a vegetable garden can do more than save you money — it can save the world. (Filmed at TEDxDirigo.)

Yes, mushrooms are technically fungi. But they’ve gotten a lot of love from TED speakers in the past, too:

Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
Paul Stamets believes that mushrooms can save our lives, restore our ecosystems and increase our health. In fact, he holds the patents for 22 mushroom-related technologies. Here, he shares his work with the Northwest’s native fungal genome, mycelium.

Jae Rhim Lee: My mushroom burial suit
Artist Jae Rhim Lee wants to commit herself to a cleaner, greener Earth — even after she dies. In this talk, she explains why she plans to be buried in a suit seeded with mushrooms, which have the power to gobble pollution.

Eben Bayer: Are mushrooms the new plastic?
Do we need planet-destroying plastics? In this talk, Eben Bayer explains how his team is creating a compostable packing material derived from mushrooms. He hopes that, soon, the mushroom material will be used to protect furniture, computers and more as they are shipped cross-country.

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And a bonus: Below, check out the musical stylings of the Vegetable Orchestra, who craft their own instruments from carrots, eggplants, cucumbers, squashes and more and then use them to make very beautiful music.