Gardening Supplies at Dollar General

I started gardening as a hobby when I was in high school. My family had a small square patch lined with red pavers in the backyard where my mom usually planted a few annual flowers each year. I expanded it until it was doubled in size and grew everything from flowers (cosmos, bachelor buttons, and zinnias) to veggies (tomatoes, green beans, peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers) to herbs (lavender and chives).

When I lived in an apartment as a young adult, I kept a few flowers and some tomato plants on the balcony. Now, I live in a house with a backyard that gets decent sun in a few spots, so I have several raised beds and a large collection of planters. Every year, I grow tomatoes, peppers, basil, and annual flowers such as zinnias. I also have some small blackberry and raspberry patches.

I get most of my gardening supplies from local garden centers or nurseries, big box retailers such as Home Depot or Menards, and even Aldi. However, I discovered over the years that dollar stores are not to be overlooked when seeking basic gardening supplies. Stores such as Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar General can be great places to buy seed packets, planters, all kinds of seed starting trays and seed starting medium, fairy garden supplies, and more.

In particular, Dollar General sells seed packets, planters, potting soil, and seed starters, as well as a variety of garden decorations and even garden kneelers, landscape fabric, grass and weed killer (including some name brands such as Spectracide and Ortho), and fairy garden supplies. Read on for more details about certain gardening supplies you can buy at Dollar General.

Seed Packets

Dollar General sells seed packets under the American Seed brand name, and you can also find these same packets at Dollar Tree, Walmart, Walgreens, and other retailers. American Seed is produced by Green Garden Products, which is part of Central Garden & Pet, which produces brands such as Ferry-Morse seeds, Kaytee pet products, Corry’s slug and snail control, Daconil Fungicide for plants, and more.

In my own garden, dollar store seeds have worked as well as name brand seeds, and they all germinate at a high rate. In particular, I’ve recently grown bachelor buttons and radishes from dollar store seed packets.

During my most recent visit to Dollar General, I spotted small seed packets that were 2 for $1 or 4 for $1 that included flowers such as marigolds, nasturtiums, petunias, sunflowers, zinnias, morning glories, moonflowers, cosmos, and more. Vegetable seeds included cucumbers, green beans, radishes, onions, pumpkins, peas, cilantro, and more.

I also found larger boxes of seeds including impatiens, marigolds, alyssum, zinnias, and mixes for sunny or shady areas as well as mixes to attract birds and butterflies or hummingbirds. These larger seed boxes cost $1 to $2 each at the time of publication.

Plastic Seed Starter Trays

When you’re growing your garden from seeds, you can sometimes plant some of those seeds directly in the garden in the spring. This includes peas, cucumbers, and flowers such as zinnias or cosmos. But with other plants such as tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, and more, you might want to get a head start on the growing season by planting these seeds indoors near a sunny window or under a grow light, or if you’re fortunate enough to have a greenhouse you might start them in there.

If you start your seeds early, you’ll need something to grow them in. Some people use simple plastic disposable cups or even empty toilet paper tubes fashioned into biodegradable planters. But you can also purchase seed starting trays at stores, including Dollar General. The trays I spotted at Dollar General cost $5 and had 72 slots for starting seeds. That should be plenty to get most gardeners started. Simply fill one of the trays with potting soil (also sold at DG) or a fine-grain seed starting medium, plant your seeds, and water.

Biodegradable Seed Starter Pots

If you prefer to start your seeds in something that’s more Earth friendly and not made of plastic, Dollar General has compostable seed starter pots that cost $3 for 40 smaller pots or $1 for six larger pots. These paper-based pots are useful because when you’re ready to plant seedlings outdoors, you simply dig a small hole and drop the entire pot with the plant in. The pot breaks down over time and becomes part of the garden soil.

Potting Mix and Seed Starting Mix

You’ll need something to fill your seed starting trays or pots, or your larger planters. Dollar General has several options, including an American Seed brand seed starting mix for $3.50 for a 6-quart bag at the time of publication. They also carry 14-quart bags of Dollar General private label True Living Outdoors brand all-purpose potting soil, which carried no price labels at the time I visited the store. I also spotted 8-quart bags of name brand Miracle-Gro potting mix, also without a price label.

Planters

I do a lot of container gardening because it’s easy and convenient to place planters where I want them. Dollar General sells a variety of plastic flower pots and planters in different sizes. During my recent shopping trip, I saw hanging plastic planters for $3, along with $3 coco replacement liners for hanging baskets. There were also mid-sized planters including the ones pictured above for $8, and they had large planters good for growing tomatoes or other big plants for $12. None of the planters I saw had drainage holes, so you might want to drill your own.

Garden Hoses

Among the bigger gardening supplies at Dollar General, I spotted a $22 four ply hose that was 5/8 of an inch wide and 75 feet long. It was sold under the Dollar General brand True Living Outdoors. That’s cheaper than a lot of other 75-foot hoses on the market, but I don’t know how well the DG hose works or how good it is at not getting kinked up.

What are your favorite gardening supplies from Dollar General? Let us know in the comments below.