Garden Anywhere Boxes for k-12

Curriculum idea for grades 1-8 @ schools addicted to concrete:
Every student has to find a recycled wooden or metal box or bin about the size of those used for cases of wine. When school starts we take field trips to local edible gardens in Berkeley (King's famous Edible Schoolyard, Le Conte, Willard where they've made a pizza oven out of mud), students drill holes in their boxes, build a compost and a worm bin to begin preparing rich soil with compost (preferably made at school from composted student lunches and yard waste). In December, we plant fava beans for the winter, to prepare for Feb./March plantings of onions, garlic, spinach, carrots, nasturtiums, lettuce, sweet peas, etc. Finale in May/June, after contests for most beautiful or bountiful box, each makes a short cooking demonstration movie in Spanish or French using harvest from his/her box.
Materials (goal: keep cost of whole project for 40 students to under $50):
soil
seeds
saw horses and recycled door as a work space to attend to boxes at school
Resource book: Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler

Educational objectives: This is a project that can be linked to every class. For example, it could be a touchstone for every 8th grade class:
Geometry classes could build compost and worm bins;
Science could discuss plant guilds, nutrition, ecology, use of sustainable resources, English tie in could be eco-journalism, discussions around Fahrenheit 451or Brave New World
Algebra- word problems around energy conservation; volume
Spanish, Chinese, French: students will make their food demonstrations in a second language; literature and current event articles can also be a part of the reading and conversations in class
In art students can decorate the boxes

What's the point? to reengage with and care for plants and the soil, air, water needed to grow them well because they embody the processes that make it possible to take care of ourselves and our environment better. Garbage that becomes great soil for great edible plants remind us why recycling and composting is worth the daily discipline. At least that is a hypothesis. Let's test it out.