The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

Back Yard Bird Watching

Garden Gate: Episode 89 – Michael Measure from FLAP

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CHEX TV airdate: May 13th, 2016 To watch this episode online click link. Michael Measure directpr from FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program) is my guest on this episode of The Garden Gate. An estimated 1 to 10 birds die per building, per year. The City of Toronto has over 950,000 registered buildings that could potentially … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 87 – Where have all the swallows gone? Guest Drew Monkman

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CHEX TV airdate: April 15th, 2016 Click link to watch this episode online Swallows, purple martins, chimney swifts have all been declining in numbers for a number of years. In my own backyard I had a couple of families filling my wonderful apartment bird house. But for the last 4 or 5 years I’ve had … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 86 – Pine Siskins with guest Drew Monkman

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Chex TV airdate: April 1st, 2016 Click link to watch this episode online. Local Naturalist and author Drew Monkman is my guest on this episode. Drew helps us understand why we’ve had so many Pine Siskins at our feeders this year. He also points out the differences between Pine Siskins and Gold finches. These two … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 78 – Squirrel Busters

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sb+CHEX TV airdate: December 11th, 2015 5-6pm Squrrel Buster Bird feeders Yes, they really are squirrel proof! Guaranteed! We have been carrying the Squirrel Buster line of bird feeders for MANY years. ?People are initially skeptical about the feeders, but once they see how well they work, they love them! There are 7 different styles available including 5 for mixed seed, 1 for finch seed and 1 for peanuts. You can keep all of your birds happy and even exclude a few that you enjoy less. Squirrels will try to get into the seed but are unable to get anything so give up! You know how smart they are! If they can’t get food they’re going to go someplace else to have their dinner! Watch this episode to learn more about these awesome feeders.

Garden Gate: Episode 71 – Susan Chan, Importance of Bees

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CHEX TV airdate: Sept. 4th, 5-6pm Click here to watch this episode online. honey-bee_shutterstock_56017861_300Sue Chan is an expert on bees. Her life is buzzing all the time! Sue works for a variety of organizations including Farms at Work. (http://www.farmsatwork.ca/about-us) ?It was with that organization that she wrote a booklet about bees called A Landowner’s Guide to Conserving Native Pollinators.(Available at The Avant-Garden Shop for just $10.00) ? On this episode of The Garden Gate , we talked about why bees are so important, how they are affected by neonicotinoids, and also what types of plants they like. We carry bee houses at the shop as well which we also talked about. ?These bee houses are made locally and are meant for mason bees to lay eggs in. ?Putting up a variety of “houses” for the bees will help them to increase in numbers and pollinate your plants!

Garden Gate: Episode 69-Quality suet, with Mark Bennett from Millcreek seed

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SuetFeeder 7506CHEX TV airdate: August 7th, 2015 Click link to watch this episode. You might think that there is no difference in our suet vs. box store suet. ?Well there is! ?A BIG difference. Mark Bennett from Wildbird Trading and Millcreek seed shares his vast knowledge of suet with us on this episode of The Garden Gate. His suet is made with peanut meal instead of corn meal. ?Box stores mostly use corn meal. ?Corn meal goes moldy and birds don’t like it. They prefer nut meal. I’d prefer nuts over dry corn any day! In addition they have studied closely what nutrition birds need and what they love. ?Millcreek seed has devised many different varieties of suet for a wide variety of birds. ?For example the Fruit and Nut suet is an Oriole favourite in the spring. ?The Baby birthday suet is specially formulated for parent birds to feed to their babies. FULL of nutrition. They devour this one. There is also a Summer Nut suet which is very dense and won’t melt in the warm days of summer! ?Many other varieties to choose from. fatball-feeder-ring-bTune in, then drop by to see the wide varieties of suet available.

Garden Gate: Episode 68 – Quality bird food with guest Mark Bennett

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CHEX TV airdate: July 24th 5-6pm Click link to watch this episode. WoodlandI’ve talked about it before. I’ve talked about it with my customers. We’ll talk about it again! ?This time with my bird food supplier. What is different between our bird food (Millcreek seed) and box store brands? The short answer is A LOT! Box store food is usually stale and old. ?Birds don’t like to eat stale bird food any more than you like to eat stale crackers or bread. It smells funny and has little nutrition. In the case of Nyger or peanuts it can even be rancid. Box store bird food can also be years old. ?Often it is “Old crop.” ?This means the seed is from previous years crops. Box store bird food can also contain wheat (which birds don’t eat), way too much corn, tiny sunflower seeds, and other fillers that just end up getting tossed on the ground and causing a big mess. ?Look at the label and see what the ingredients are. Often in poor grade seed you’ll see on the label that it contains oil to suppress dust. Birds don’t like either! Who would!? Our bird food is the freshest you can get. It is “New Crop.” It contains no dust or oil. There are numerous varieties of big plump seeds used throughout the year to offer the best seasonal mixes possible. Top quality – and you’ll know it! Mark PhotoTune in to CHEX TV on Friday July 24th between 5 & 6pm for my interview with Mark Bennett from Wild bird trading and Millcreek seed. Read more here.

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