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City of Melb. book download

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The Little Things that Run the City - City of Melbourne

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In collaboration with RMIT, the City of Melbourne have released a children’s book that focuses on 30 amazing insects in our city.

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SERIES 28 | Episode 20

By providing food and water in your garden, you can encourage native bees to visit. By making them a hotel, you can encourage them to stay! HOW TO MAKE A BEE HOTEL Materials
There are more than 1500 species of native bees in Australia and they play an important environmental role pollinating plants. To encourage native bees into the garden, Sophie is converting an old television into some accommodation - a bee hotel! Different species of bee have different housing requirements, so Sophie is building a mixed material hotel.

A weather proof house, Sophie is using an old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television.*

Corflute Sheet (also known as project panel - available from hardware stores). Attach this to the inside ceiling of the bee hotel to keep the rain out.

A range of different diameter materials eg terracotta pipe, bamboo stalks, clay-filled pipes to fill the television casing (see below).

Positioning the Bee Hotel
You'll need...
Assemble the Bee Hotel
The native bee hotel should ideally be facing between the north and east, in a sunny to semi-shaded position that is sheltered, above 1 metre off the ground, but no higher than 2 metres. Make sure it won't get too hot in summer. Don't forget to provide lots of food and water for your bees. For ideas on plants that attract bees, see Costa's story,

Fennel stems - Strip foliage from main stem and then cut stem into lengths making sure there is at least 10 - 15 centimetres of pithy stem between joints. Tie cut pieces together with twine and place them in the 'hotel.'

Bamboo hollows - Cut bamboo stalks into sections leaving 10 - 15 cm of hollow stem between joints with an enclosed end to entice the bees.

Drilled logs - Use untreated sections of cut logs. Using a variety of drill bits ranging from 3 mm - 8 mm, drill holes into log to a depth of at least 10 cm. Space the holes around 2 cm apart. Use sharp drill bits to minimise burrs to keep the tunnels smooth and inviting.

Clay packed pipes and blocks - Pack sifted clay into earthenware pipes or concrete blocks. Using a poker that is 8mm wide, push holes into clay around 10 - 15cm deep into the pipe.

Arrange the different nesting materials by evenly spacing the habitat types within the television casing. Pack it tightly so nothing moves. Fill in any gaps with bundles of pithy stems and bamboo pieces.

* PLEASE NOTE: Extreme caution should be taken when dismantling old CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs and it's recommended that this is carried out by a suitably qualified person.

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By providing food and water in your garden, you can encourage native bees to visit. By making them a hotel, you can encourage them to stay! HOW TO MAKE A BEE HOTEL Materials There are more than 1500 species of native bees in Australia and they play an important environmental role pollinating plants.

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In this resource pack you will find:
· A presentation with images and stories starring minibeasts at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
· Questions and activities which children can further explore at home, Kinder or school
· A range of guided resources

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Ever wondered what pollinators visit your favourite flowers? Take 10 minutes, sometime in our count weeks, to watch flowers in your garden or local park and take note of what you see! Then enter wh…

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Dirtgirl learns about pollination, and makes a tiny garden

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Dirtgirl learns about pollination, and makes a tiny garden

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Dirtgirl wears gumboots, grows awesome tomatoes, knows the names of clouds and drives an orange tractor. She hangs out in her garden with her friends, Scrapboy, Hayman, Grubby and many more!

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SERIES 31 | Episode 13

Clarence explains how worms communicate with each other.
Did you know that in Australia, we've got over 1,000 species of earthworm and that globally, there are over 7,000 species? It's estimated there are 300 individual earthworms for every square metre of soil on earth. They've even been ranked the number one most influential species in the history of the planet.

Worms are vitally important for soil ecology, in our farms, in the bush and in our gardens. But have you ever wondered how worms can find a mate, how they can avoid predators or how they even know which direction to travel in?

Researchers have found that they can communicate with each other using touch and taste. They can feel vibrations in the soil so they can avoid predators. There's even evidence to suggest that they like to travel in herds and follow a leader. Now, that would make for one serious wormhole!

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Clarence explains how worms communicate with each other. Did you know that in Australia, we've got over 1,000 species of earthworm and that globally, there are over 7,000 species? It's estimated there are 300 individual earthworms for every square metre of soil on earth.

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Key focuses

· Relationships between plants and minibeasts

· How minibeasts help gardens to grow

This program supports outcomes from the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework

Links to Victorian Curriculum

· Level F – 2 Science and Ethical Capability

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This is a PDF of Minibeasts at the Melbourne and Cranbourne Royal Botanic Gardens

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This is how we look after plants in the RBGV Kitchen Garden. What Minibeasts might you find in this garden?

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Discover the wonders of the Kitchen Garden

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Infromation on how to care for an indigenous plant potted during your excursion.