The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

Garden Tips: Woodpeckers and other cavity nesters

Our year-round resident cavity nesters are getting busy with courtship and breeding behaviours, well ahead of the migrants, most of whom start returning from their southern breeding grounds in late-April. Behaviours to watch and listen for include calling/singing (nuthatches & chickadees), drumming (woodpeckers), ritualized displays (keep an eye open for dance-like movements between birds), and … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 254 – Attracting Finches & Grosbeaks (Nov 18, 2022)

A Spruce Budworm outbreak in northern areas meant a lot of food for Evening Grosbeaks and Purple Finches this year. That, coupled with a smaller mast (seed and nut) crop, means there are more individuals of these species than there is food to support them, so many will move father south than usual this winter … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 259 – Different types of suet feeders (Feb 10, 2023)

In a recent episode I went over the benefits of feeding our high-quality suet to your feathered friends, especially in colder months. In this episode I show you some of the suet feeders we carry in the shop. Some are wreaths that hold suet balls, cages with tail props, and squirrel proof suet feeders. There … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 258 – Attracting birds in the winter with heated bird baths (Jan 27, 2023)

Certain needs must be met to for any living creature to survive: food, water, and shelter from inclement weather and predators. These elements work together to form a critter’s habitat. No matter how ideal a habitat may appear to be in one or more of these areas, it will not be used by wildlife if … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 257 The best suet for winter feeding (Jan 13, 2023)

In the colder months, suet and peanuts are excellent sources of fat for the birds. This helps to keep them warm during long cold winter nights. The suet attracts blue jays, woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and other feathered friends. Our suet is super quality. There is no filler in it. Often times cornmeal is used to … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 256-Bird seed for winter feeding (Dec 23, 2022)

Where you buy your bird seed really does matter. If you’re going to take the time to set up a bird feeding station or bird feeder, you want to use the best seed possible. Box store seed often contains a lot of filler. Seeds such as wheat and red milo are not eaten by birds … Read more

Garden Tips: Attracting birds to your yard in the winter

People often ask why they don’t have many backyard birds in the winter. Here, we explore some of the many reasons why this might be. Birds need food, water, and suitable habitat year-round. The more of these available in your yard, and the better quality they are, the more likely you are to attract more … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 255 – Time to puzzle (Dec 16, 2022)

  As the nights get longer, it’s the perfect time to crack open a new puzzle. If you’re like me, its something to get you away from the TV and focused on something different. The puzzles we carry are beautiful. Art pieces in fact! Many have stories attached. For example, in this episode there is … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 253 – Woodstock wind chimes (Nov 4, 2022)

We’ve been carrying this beautiful line of wind chimes for many years! Woodstock Chimes are the original musically tuned windchime. They are tuned to beautiful melodies and scales from around the world. When listening to a Woodstock Chime you’re hearing a perfectly tuned musical instrument played by the wind. They are aluminum so won’t rust … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 252 – Fun mismatched socks (Oct 21, 2022)

Our Solmate socks from The Socklady have been one of our most popular items for many years. Lots of fun colours. Well made and durable. And MISMATCHED! “Because life’s too short for matching socks!” As a Certified B Corporation®, The Socklady does business a little differently. Knowing that fashion and sustainability go hand-in-hand, they understand … Read more

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