A Garden is something you tend to but evolves following its own patterns

Digital Gardens are an analogy to actual Gardens, but made of knowledge and notes instead of plants. But why call them Digital Gardens? What is it in the image of a Garden that makes sense with this practice of publishing and linking notes?

Gardens exist in the intersection of nature and human action. You can plan and plant a garden, but you cannot fully define how it will grow. A Garden is alive and has a bit of a mind of its own.

Digital Gardens work in a similar way. As they emulate the emergence of nature’s patterns, they can give way to unexpected connections. These connections are like flashes of insight. A sudden connection, previously unseen and now so obvious.

Gardens are not jungles, though. They assume a degree of involvement from a gardener. Someone who tends to them, who prunes unnecessary branches, who waters promising seedlings and who has a vision (a flexible vision) for what they can become.