Lowenfels helped create the Garden Writers Foundation, a scholarship program. And he's founder of another program on the verge of going international, one to help feed the hungry.

"It was below zero," Lowenfels said, recalling its beginnings. "I was coming back from dinner at The Red Sage, a very fancy, very expensive restaurant around the corner from the White House. I was coming back and going to my very fancy, very expensive hotel, and I had my hand in my pocket around some loose change. A guy came up to me and said, 'Do you have any money? I'd really like to get some food.'

"Now in D.C. they tell you -- like they do here -- don't give money to panhandlers; agencies are supposed to take care of them. So I didn't. I had my hand AROUND the money! I went back to my room, and there was a bowl of fruit and a bottle of wine. I really felt bad and had trouble sleeping -- because the guy had said, 'Come with me; watch me eat.' "

On his way home, somewhere over Seattle, he got the idea of asking readers to plant an extra row in their gardens and donate the harvest to Bean's Cafe. That became the Plant a Row for Beans project. And that grew into Plant a Row for the Hungry.

"The program is now in every state of the union. We've got inquiries from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America. I mean, it's just a phenomenal little program."

Last year, gardeners across the country donated more than 1.2 million pounds of produce to food banks and soup kitchens.

"Again, something good comes from something bad. I will never forget walking by that guy."

Visit the Plant a Row information page.