11 Affordable Products That Make Starting Seeds For Your Garden A Breeze

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There's no doubt that growing your own garden is fun and educational, as well as empowering — but above all, it can save you money on your grocery bill. That's especially the case when you grow crops from seed rather than buying nursery plants. There are several items you'll need to start your own, and happily, it's easy to find these supplies at reasonable price points. Cheap plant tags will help you stay organized; an affordable starting mix is needed to give your crops a good beginning in life; and inexpensive gadgets, such as dibbers and dial seed dispensers, can help with precision.

As you gather your supplies, don't forget the most important part — the seeds themselves, another low-cost item. While these plants-to-be will be the focal point of your growing project, don't neglect choosing the best possible products you can afford to get your seedlings established in healthy conditions. Some of the following items are fundamental; others are optional, and none of them will break the bank. The most extravagant of these gardening products can be had for $25 or less, and many of these supplies cost no more than $5 to $10.

You'll probably want to buy packets of seeds, one of the most affordable items on your supply list, unless you've been saving seeds from store-bought food or past garden crops. There are certain types you'll want to start indoors rather than sow directly outdoors, since the latter can be a rookie gardening mistake that's sure to delay your harvest. You can easily find high-quality, organic packs for around $5 – or even cheaper if you choose conventionally grown seeds. Alternatively, you may be able to borrow from a free seed library, making your food-growing projects even cheaper.

The best soil for starting seeds tends to be a sterile mix that is light, fluffy, and well-draining. These qualities allow your seedlings' roots to spread while keeping them well-hydrated. Using a good starting medium can be the difference between young plants that flourish and those that wither — so don't just use soil from your garden, which may contain pathogens that will kill vulnerable, young plants. But you don't have to pay top dollar for this item — you should be able to find a 12- to 16-quart bag for around $10 at most garden stores.

Nursery pots or trays are inexpensive and essential for seed-starting projects. These containers will hold the nourishing soil for your maturing plants until you relocate them to the garden. You can use plastic nursery pots, but biodegradable ones, such as Park Seed's Cowpots, cost less than $1 each and are the best way to avoid disturbing your plants' roots when transplanting time rolls around. If you want to take your expenses for this product from cheap to free, there are common household items you can repurpose to grow plant seeds, such as toilet paper rolls.

Whether you use individual pots or trays to sow, setting them in bottom trays will help protect your home's surfaces when you water and keep the pots grouped together. Bottom trays are also helpful for easily transporting mature seedlings to the garden when it's time to transplant. You may have a couple of old flats from the nursery center that you can clean off and reuse, but if you don't, you can pick up an inexpensive pack, such as Living Whole Foods' Durable Black Plastic Growing Trays, which cost less than $20.

One item that gets omitted from many indoor gardeners' grow setups is a humidity dome, which is a shame since using one can easily increase your seed germination rate. Place the covering over your pots or trays until germination is achieved. For single nursery pots, you can use a repurposed transparent plastic bag as a free DIY humidity dome, or you might want to purchase seed starter trays with dedicated plastic domes, like this three-pack of Gardzen Seed Starter Trays for less than $10.

A dial seed dispenser is a tool that can make your gardening endeavors easier and more precise. This small device has a dial that allows you to pick the best hole size for the particular seed you're sowing, then you tap the dispenser to slowly release one or two seeds at a time through a narrow spout. It can help you prevent wasting the contents of the packet by accidentally spilling it all onto the soil. You should be able to find one of these affordable gadgets for as little as $1 at any garden store.

Each type of seed you grow has a recommended sowing depth listed on the packet – small seeds like lettuce require a shallow planting, and others, like squash, need an inch of soil covering them. A graduated dibber helps gardeners easily poke holes into the soil at the right depth, removing the guesswork. These small, inexpensive tools can be added to your supply kit for less than $10. If you're comfortable eyeballing the depth and aren't worried about precision, an even cheaper alternative is to use a pencil or chopstick to poke holes for sowing.

How are you going to know your 'Better Boy' tomatoes from your 'Early Girls' unless you use plant tags? Labels can help you keep your seedlings organized with the type of crop, variety, and the number you sowed per pot. You'll find plant tags available in wood, plastic, or metal. Since wood and paper tags are biodegradable, they can start to rot in the humid conditions needed for germination. On the other hand, plastic and metal garden tags can potentially be reused year after year, with plastic being the cheapest option.

In addition to providing light and well-draining soil, your seedlings will need water, but not in any old way. Newly emerged plants are quite fragile, so the best way to water them is to gently mist the growing medium with a spray bottle. Once the seedlings are bigger and stronger, you can switch to a watering can, but until then, a mister or spray bottle makes it easy to keep the small plants hydrated without damaging or overwatering them. You can purchase an affordable spray bottle for under $10, such as this Worldgsb 16-oz Refillable Glass Spray Bottle.

Indoor gardeners lucky enough to have large south-facing windows or a sunroom may not need artificial lighting as part of their setup. But for the rest of us, grow lights are a necessary tool for keeping plants alive until they're transplanted into our raised beds or rows — making these lamps part of our best practices for starting seeds indoors. Just be sure to use broad-spectrum lights for raising seedlings. There are many different types of grow lights available for indoor gardening, and you can easily find affordable options for less than $25.

A heat mat may seem like an unnecessary expense — unless you're growing heat-loving plants like tomatoes and peppers. Forgetting to account for soil temperature when starting seeds is a big mistake that can prevent these crops from thriving. A heat mat placed strategically beneath your bottom tray makes it easy to keep those seedlings at the cozy temperature they need to flourish — as well as helps to prevent diseases that thrive in cool, damp conditions. You can find a pair of inexpensive heat mats on Amazon for under $20, like these LOCONHA Seedling Heat Mats.