20 Surprising Places to Get Free Gardening Supplies

This includes everything from plants to seeds to compost to shovels to rakes. Whatever you need to whip your garden into shape, you can likely get it for free. You just need to know where to look.

In today’s post, I’ll cover the best places where you can get free gardening supplies. You can save your cash while sprucing up your garden.

Free Gardening Supplies by Mail or Near Me

Here are some of the best resources out there where you can score gardening supplies and tools.

1. Join local gardening groups

Look out for local gardening groups near you.

You can learn a lot about gardening through these groups. And, you can also get some free gardening supplies, like vegetables, shrubs, and flowers.

So, check to see if there are any gardening clubs in your area – simply have a quick search online for them.

2. Get free seeds from seed exchanges

Joining seed swap groups is a really easy way to get free plants for your garden.

These groups allow you to give away the seeds that you don’t want and get seeds you do want.

You can plant these seeds in your garden and have it flourishing with beautiful plants in no time!

Although the seeds are free, you typically have to pay for the cost of postage. It’s not much though and you get free stuff for your garden.

You can search online to find seed swapping groups. It’s a great place to find local seed exchanges. Just enter the term, “seed exchange” followed by the name of your town, city, county, or state into Google or whatever search engine you use.

Here are some seed exchanges to get you started:

• Seed Savers Exchange
• Houzz Seed Exchange
• Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

3. Check for gardening supplies on Craigslist

Craigslist is a boon for free stuff.

Want some seeds for your garden?

What about compost?

Or perhaps you’re looking for a wheelbarrow?

Whatever it is you need, Craigslist likely has it.

Find free saplings, bulbs, trees, barrels you can use to make planters, and much more on Craigslist.

Even if you can’t find the item that you want for free on there, everything is usually on the cheap side, meaning you can get some great deals.

It’s actually good for items for zhushing up your garden too, like outdoor furniture. Give it a try!

There’s actually a section on Craigslist just for free stuff.

Go to the “For Sale” section on your city’s Craigslist. There, look for the “Free” section. Click on this link and it will take you to the “Free” section where you’ll be able to find people who’re giving away free stuff near you.

Of course, you may not always be able to find free gardening supplies there, but it’s worth a look.

4. Check local government programs

You may be able to get free gardening supplies through local government programs. These programs can provide things like seeds, mulch, compost, and trees.

For example, you can get free trees from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Check with the local government in your city or county to see if they are offering any free gardening supplies.

5. Ask at gardening stores

Gardening stores and nurseries are good places to ask if you’re looking for some free plants for your garden.

A lot of stores simply don’t have the time to nurse plants that are dried up/dying back to health, because they often have so many of them. So, they often just throw them out.

The store may be willing to give you any of these old plants for free. Just ask! You will just need to nurse these plants back to their former glory.

6. Browse Freecycle

When it comes to free stuff there’s a site that I often recommend – and that’s Freecycle.

This handy site lets you get stuff for free and give away stuff that you no longer want. This saves waste and money too.

Have a browse on there to see if you can find anyone giving away free gardening supplies. You could find things like planters, compost, and gardening tools on there for free.

7. Tree service companies

Tree service companies cut down trees and branches and process them through a woodchipper.

This means that they have a ton of wood chips – and these can make the perfect mulch for your garden.

Get in touch with local tree removal companies to see if they have any wood chips that they’d be willing to give to you.

8. Get free seeds from seed libraries

Fill your garden with beautiful plants at no cost by using seed libraries.

What are these you ask?

It’s simple – with a seed library, you “borrow” seeds. Once that plant has grown, you then return an equal or greater number of seeds. It’s like a library for seeds basically!

Seed libraries are similar to those seed exchanges that I mentioned above. But, the key difference is that with a seed library, you don’t have to provide seeds upfront. With a seed exchange, you do. You have to trade seeds in order to get them.

Seed libraries enable you to get seeds without having to provide any of your own first. You only need to provide seeds once the plant has grown.

This makes seed libraries an excellent choice for beginners looking to start their first garden.

To find seed libraries, check out Seed Libraries.

It’s a website offering free resources on how to start a seed library, how to connect with others who have started libraries, and how to maintain a library once you’ve started one.

You can use the internet to find free seed libraries near you. Just do a search for the term “seed library” followed by the name of your town, city, county, or state.

Use the seeds from seed libraries, and you’ll have lots of free plants for your garden.

9. Check with Buy Nothing groups on Facebook

Local Buy Nothing groups on Facebook help community members get the items they need without having to spend money.

People in these groups post items that they no longer want and are looking to give away to someone in the community who can use them.

Keep a lookout for gardening supplies.

You can simply wait for someone to post these items, or you can actually make your own post where you request the gardening items that you want.

This could be anything from seeds to gardening tools.

People may have gardening supplies just sitting there gathering dust in their garage or shed. So, these groups can be excellent for sourcing free stuff.

10. Ask for coffee grounds at Starbucks

Starbucks probably doesn’t come to mind when you think about places to get free gardening supplies, right?

Well, it’s actually a really good resource for one thing that’s vital to a healthy garden – fertilizer!

Yes, coffee grounds can actually be used as a fertilizer in your garden. And, Starbucks has plenty of them!

Coffee grounds are rich in nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. This makes coffee grounds ideal for your garden! It will help your plants to grow.

11. Look on Facebook Marketplace

As always when it comes to freebies, I’m going to recommend that you have a look at Facebook Marketplace.

Although most people know it as a place for buying used items, it’s also an excellent resource for free stuff. And, this includes gardening supplies.

Have a search on there, and you may be able to find people giving away free gardening supplies. This could be anything from free mulch to free plants.

12. Get free seeds and trees from the National Wildlife Federation

Make your garden beautiful and help butterflies by getting free seeds and trees from the National Wildlife Foundation.

It is an organization that aims to help butterflies to thrive. So, it provides people with free Milkweed seeds. Also, you can get tips for gardening on your windowsill, patio, porch, or backyard.

You’ll need to pledge to be one of the National Wildlife Federation’s Butterfly Heroes in order to get the seeds.

Many people and organizations, like families, places of worship, nature centers, scouts, schools, and other community groups have pledged to help butterfly populations.

More than 200,000 pledges have been received in the past five years to restore butterfly populations by planting the Milkweed plants that are required by monarchs to survive and thrive.

You can also get free trees from The National Wildlife Federation. It offers free native tree seedlings to partners who plant them through local restoration projects or community tree giveaway events.

The National Wildlife Federation distributes seedlings to people at these events so that they can plant the trees and care for them at home.

• Get free seeds from the National Wildlife Federation here.
• Get free trees from the National Wildlife Federation here.

13. Check with your local library

Libraries can be a good resource for getting free seeds. Some libraries have gardening events or presentations. And, they may offer some free seeds or gardening supplies to those who attend the presentation.

Check to see what events are coming up at your local library.

14. Ask your friends and family

Friends and family may have the gardening supplies that you need. They may have some old gardening tools, for example, that they no longer use, which they’d be willing to give to you.

Or, they may have some extra compost that they want to get rid of, so they’d be willing to give it to you.

Or they can simply lend you items that you need, like a lawnmower, a trimmer, or a leaf blower, for example.

Also, you can actually grow many plants, like tomato plants, azaleas, and spider plants from cuttings. So, ask your friends and family whether they’d be willing to give you some cuttings for the plants that you want, which you can plant in your garden.

15. Utilize stuff from your kitchen

Next time you want some fruit or vegetables for your garden, check your kitchen!

Save the seeds from fruit and vegetables, like:

• Cucumbers
• Tomatoes
• Squash

Depending on the climate where you live and the type of fruit or vegetable seeds you have, you may be able to plant them in your garden and grow your own produce. This is such an effective way to get free stuff for your garden.

16. Get free composting materials during Halloween and Thanksgiving

After Halloween and Thanksgiving, there are always a lot of discarded pumpkins, gourds, straws, and other seasonal items around.

All of these can make excellent composting materials.

Ask around your neighborhood to see if there’s anyone that has any old decorations, like pumpkins or straw bales, post-Halloween or Thanksgiving that they’d be willing to give to you.

17. Browse OfferUp

For buying and selling stuff locally, OfferUp is an excellent choice. It’s not just good for local sales though.

You can also find free items on there. You may be able to find people giving away items like compost, mulch, and plants on there.

18. Get free seeds from Garden Supply Stores

Sometimes garden supply stores will give out free seeds.

There are a few ways that you can get them:

• Stores often provide things like discounts on your first purchase, freebies, promo codes, and other great deals through their newsletters. So, be sure to sign up.
• Join the store’s loyalty/rewards program. These can give you rewards like discounts and free stuff.
• Take part in contests and giveaways. This can be a good way to win free seeds.
• Many stores provide details on freebies, giveaways, discounts, and other deals that can net you free stuff or save you money on their social media accounts. So, be sure to follow garden supply stores on social media.

Here are a few garden supply stores to get you started:

• Burpee Seeds and Plants
• Renee’s Garden
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
• Johnny’s Selected Seeds
• DollarSeed
• American Meadows

You may have some local garden stores too where you can find some free seeds.

19. Look out for free seeds inside gardening catalogs

Some seed and gardening catalogs have seed samples in them. You can plant these in your garden. They don’t always have these freebies available, but often they do.

Some examples of gardening catalogs that you can order include:

• Annie’s Heirloom Seeds Catalog
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Catalog
• Botanical Interests Catalog
• Brent & Becky’s Catalogue
• Burgess Seed & Plants Co. Catalogs
• Burpee Seeds and Plants Catalog
• Burrell Seeds Catalog
• Seed Savers Catalog

What’s good about these catalogs is that not only do many of them offer free seeds, but some of them are free to order too.

20. Use items you already have in your home

A really easy option to get gardening supplies is to simply search your own home. Often, this option is overlooked. Check places like your basement, attic, garage, or shed, for items that you can reuse or repurpose.

For example, you may have old plastic drums that you can use as a composter or wooden pallets that you can use to make planters.

There are so many items that you already have in your home, from buckets to plastic containers, to recyclables, which could potentially be used in your garden.

Harvesting Deals: Your Green Thumb’s Best Allies!

With so many ways to get free gardening supplies, there’s no reason you can’t cultivate a beautiful garden without breaking the bank!

Be sure to try out these tips and you’ll elevate your garden not only in time for spring but all year round!