I will try eco complete or something along those lines eventually, but you don't need the expensive gravels to grow healthy plants. Eco complete and some of the other manufactured gravels are advantageous because they store nutrients and remove some of those nutrients (fish waste) from the water.
I have 2 dirted tanks (a layer of organic soil below small black gravel) and a couple of tanks with just gravel or sand. They all grow plants well enough with some variation due to how well the tanks are lit and how well fertilizer gets applied to the tank. I find that smaller grains of gravel are helpful when it comes to holding the plants down though. With gravel larger than about 2-3mm plants have trouble taking root sometimes
If you plan to stock fish that dig in the substrate actively then avoid dirted tanks.