If you germinate your seeds first you'll have much better luck. The cheapest and easiest way to do it is to put your seeds in a wet paper towel inside a baggie. Put them someplace warm (I always set mine on a plate on top of the stove where it can get the warmth from the pilot light.) Give them a few days and if they're viable seeds, at least some of them will have taproots popping out. Then you can plant in soil.
It's worth it to get some decent soil. Even cheap Miracle Gro is way better than random dirt out of the ground, especially if there's a lot of clay in your dirt. Good aeration of the soil is important, and most commercial potting soil contains perlite or vermiculite to help with that and to control moisture so it's harder to over- or under-water your plant. Around here you can get a big bag of MG potting soil for $3.50. If you're going to plant you might as well use decent soil with some nutes.