The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

Back Yard Bird Watching

GARDEN GATE: Episode 310 – Seed Cylinders! (January 17th, 2025)

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A very popular feeding option for our backyard birds are seed cylinders! These are made fresh by the company that brings our bird seed every week. Woodpeckers, blue jays, nuthatches and chickadees really love these. Ingredients like hulled peanuts, meal worms, cranberries, sunflower seeds and safflower make them very attractive. Approximately 3lbs of compressed seed is held together in each cylinder so the birds really have to work away at them. This means we get to see them at our feeders longer! There are many different ways you can hang or add a cylinder to your feeding station. Pop by the shop and we’ll find which one is right for your birds! ** Please note, some birds shown in this video are from stock footage and may not be relevant to the area of Peterborough Ontario. **

** Please note, some birds shown in this video are from stock footage and may not be relevant to the area of Peterborough Ontario. **

GARDEN GATE: Episode 309 – The Best Bird Seed For Winter (January 3rd, 2025)

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As the days get shorter and the nights get longer and colder, birds have to eat from dawn to dusk to have enough energy to survive the nights.  Offering fatty seeds like hulled peanuts and sunflower seeds are some of the best options to provide quick easy energy to the birds. We also have a Niger seed blend with chips of the hulled sunflower which is very popular with finches. It’s also a great time to give your feeders a good cleaning as you can expect a heavier flow of birds. Checking your feeders often for freezing and clearing off the snow really helps them have easier access to the seeds. Doing this will help you see many different birds enjoying themselves at your feeders this winter!

** Please note, birds shown in this video are from stock footage and may not all be relevant to the area of Peterborough Ontario. **

GARDEN GATE: Episode 308 – Feeding Birds (not squirrels!) in the Winter (December 20, 2024)

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It’s getting colder at night so during the day birds (and squirrels) are busy eating and storing up energy. The Squirrel Buster Plus, (which really is squirrel proof!) is a great feeder to use to keep the squirrels from gobbling up all the seeds before the birds get a chance. When a squirrel gets on the feeder its weight closes off access to the seed. Our Seasons Woodland blend is a great option to use in this feeder, offering a mix of high-quality fatty seeds for all the birds visiting your feeders. This Buster holds over 5lbs of seed and is adjustable to also keep out some of the bigger bully birds.

Feeding suet in the winter is especially tough, as it is VERY attractive to the squirrels. The Squirrel Buster Suet feeder helps to solve this problem! It comes with two suet cakes, can be adjusted for different weights, and like all the Squirrel Busters, has a lifetime warranty against squirrel damage! Stop by the shop and we’ll show you how they work!

GARDEN GATE: Episode 306 – Canadian Made! (November 22, 2024)

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Over the past 22 years The Avant-Garden Shop has been building up a wide collection of Canadian Made items. As much as possible, we will support local and Canadian artists because this supports our local economy and community. When you shop locally and purchase Canadian made items, we are then able to donate to the … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 305 – Suet & Seed Cylinders! (November 8, 2024)

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Suet, seed cakes and cylinders are a great feeding option for the colder months. Birds really love the quick energy boost they get from suet, peanuts and sunflower seeds! There are six different kinds of our premium suet from Mill Creek. They have only the best ingredients that birds love, including mealworms and fruit! Suet … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 304 – Bird Seed Quality Makes a Difference! (October 25, 2024)

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When the birds are happy, we’re happy! To keep them happy and healthy a good quality seed can make a big difference. The seed at the Avant-Garden shop is fresh weekly from Mill Creek Seed Co. This is a family business specializing in wild bird food. Every blend has been specially formulated using only the … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 302 – The Squirrel Buster Nut Feeder! (Sept 27, 2024)

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The Squirrel Buster Nut Feeder is mainly meant for hulled peanuts, but you can use a variety of other nuts, mealworms, or even dried fruit. The newest addition to this feeder is a second smaller mesh that you can interchange. This now allows you to use sunflower seeds! The smaller mesh is also great to … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 301 – It’s time for birdhouses! (Sept 13, 2024)

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It might seem like an odd time of year to be talking about birdhouses, but it’s actually a great time to put one up! The birds can get used to a new house now before nesting starts again in the spring. Birds might also use them to roost and for shelter throughout the colder months, … Read more

The Birds and the Beans

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Bird Friendly Coffee If you’re wondering what coffee would taste like if it were Smithsonian approved, we can help you find out. We carry 340g bags of beans and ground coffee from Birds and Beans, all of which bear the gold seal stamp of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, the highest environmental … Read more

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