Digital Gardening

A couple months ago, I asked a friend about his homelab setup. He sent me a link to his website. I didn't even realize he had one, so I clicked around some more and came across the phrase "digital garden."

At first glance the concept resonated with me because there are many thoughts, ideas, and experiences I'd like to share more publicly but every time I've written something on the internet, I felt a ton of anxiety about making the writing compelling, relevant, and interesting.

This created a really high bar for me to just write thoughts down and put them on the internet. Growing up with the internet, I dabbled with posting here and there, even creating my own CMS on top of App Engine way back when. I wrote some things down but couldn't get into the habit of it because perfection was getting in the way. I don't think I'm a very good writer, but I write a lot personally (journaling, etc) and professionally (internal memos, posts, tech specs, product docs).

I don't get the same hang up with those non-public writings. I'd like to carry over those practices to something public on the internet.

So this is my attempt at that. I hope to write a lot more here. I expect the quality to be varied and I'll use it as an opportunity to continue writing what I learn.

References

While looking into the idea of a digital garden, I read a number of articles about what they are and how people think about them:

• https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history/
  • "A garden is a collection of evolving ideas that aren’t strictly organised by their publication date. They’re inherently exploratory – notes are linked through contextual associations. They aren’t refined or complete - notes are published as half-finished thoughts that will grow and evolve over time. They’re less rigid, less performative, and less perfect than the personal websites we’re used to seeing."
  • "Gardens are imperfect by design. They don’t hide their rough edges or claim to be a permanent source of truth."
• https://www.swyx.io/digital-garden-tos
  • "We have been conditioned for decades to believe in the finality and authority of the printed word. The widely accepted Rules of Good Writing exhort writers to use active voice and drop weasel words."
• https://elizabethtai.com/2025/05/13/pushback-against-digital-gardens/
  • "Digital gardens give you the freedom to break free of preconceived notions or “best practices” on how to write on the Internet."
  • "I write in my digital garden because I want to clarify my ideas and what I’ve learned. By writing and teaching others about my ideas and learnings, I get to solidify what I’ve learned in my brain."
  • "In the end, I write in my digital garden because it makes me happy."
• https://elizabethtai.com/2025/05/10/digital-gardens-vs-blogging-whats-the-difference/
  • "Last year or so, I discovered digital gardening, and it’s like having a light bulb go off in a path shrouded by mists. I’ve had this idea to write on the web this way, but I just didn’t know what to call it. Once I got a solidified concept, I grew extremely excited!"
  • "The real star of the show is the knowledge being tended in the digital garden. Personal branding is more of an afterglow of the digital garden, a side effect rather than the sole purpose of a digital garden. Digital garden content are often incomplete, works-in-progress, not always polished or even well-written."
• https://joelhooks.com/on-writing-more/
  • "Seriously. The idea of a "blog" needs to get over itself. Everybody is treating writing as a "content marketing strategy" and using it to "build a personal brand" which leads to the fundamental flawed idea that everything you post has to be polished to perfection and ready to be consumed."
• https://joelhooks.com/digital-garden/
  • "What makes a garden is interesting. It's personal. Things are organized and orderly, but with a touch of chaos around the edges."