Digital Gardening Philosophy
Digital gardening is a different way of thinking about creating and sharing knowledge online. Unlike traditional blogging, digital gardens are:
Core Principles
🌱 Growth Over Perfection
- Content is allowed to be incomplete and evolving
- Ideas can be planted as seeds and grown over time
- No pressure to publish “finished” thoughts
🔗 Connections Over Categories
- Knowledge is interconnected, not hierarchical
- Links between ideas are as important as the ideas themselves
- Serendipitous discovery through exploration
🚀 Learning in Public
- Share your thinking process, not just conclusions
- Document questions and uncertainties
- Build knowledge collaboratively
🏡 Personal Spaces
- Reflect your unique way of thinking
- Organize content in ways that make sense to you
- Create your own knowledge architecture
The Garden Metaphor
| Traditional Blog | Digital Garden |
|---|---|
| Articles | Notes |
| Published | Planted |
| Chronological | Topical |
| Finished | Growing |
| Authoritative | Exploratory |
Benefits
- Reduced Publishing Anxiety: No need for perfect, polished posts
- Compound Learning: Ideas build on each other over time
- Better Retention: Writing helps consolidate understanding
- Knowledge Sharing: Others can benefit from your learning journey
Tools for Digital Gardening
Popular tools include:
- Obsidian + Quartz (this setup!)
- Notion
- Roam Research
- LogSeq
- TiddlyWiki
Getting Started
- Start small - create a few interconnected notes
- Don’t worry about organization initially
- Link liberally between ideas
- Update and expand over time
- Share your garden with others
Further Reading
- Getting Started with Quartz
- Markdown Tips and Tricks
- The Garden and the Stream by Mike Caulfield
Remember: Your garden is uniquely yours. There’s no wrong way to tend it! 🌿