Milk cartons, plastic milk jugs or clear plastic beverage bottles: Saw them off with a sharp knife or scissors. Add a few drainage holes and decorate them with foil.

Buckets: Whether they're made of plastic, metal or wood– buckets and pails are roomy cheap plant containers and a good choice for most types of plants. Use five gallon or larger for large plants like hibiscus, smaller buckets for seedlings and small annuals. Include containers like small wastebaskets in this group.

Baskets: Preserve the appearance of growing baskets by purchasing inexpensive polyurethane liners. You will need to make holes in the liners for drainage. To keep basket fiber from rotting, rather than puncturing the liners, it's a good idea to cut drainage holes in a cross pattern (X), pull the triangular ends through and tape them to the outside of the basket. You can also use this same method to make a grow bag out of heavy-duty fabric like denim, canvas, or burlap.

Old Wide-Mouth Canisters and Cookie Jars: Line the bottoms of these with a layer of stones, topped with some wire mesh to allow for drainage yet keeping soil from leaching into your drainage layer.

Wire mesh or hardware cloth: Attach it to a hoop or square it off by weaving short plant stakes through the holes. Then line it with sphagnum moss to make a great hanging planter.
Ready-Made Cheap Plant Containers

Of course, not everyone is a do-it-yourselfer, but you can still find cheap plant containers in garage sale grab bags and boxes and retail clearance aisles.

Plain plastic containers and foam plant containers are also relatively inexpensive, especially at season's end sales!

Usually sold in bunches, peat pots come in several different sizes and are great for starting seeds.

Many merchants offer beginning season discounts on cheap plant containers as well since like you, they would rather see your gardening dollars invested in plants instead of containers!

It`s amazing what can be used for containers if you look around the home and the garage. Some things can look really smart being in a different environment.