Networked Thought: What is Digital Gardening?

The article argues that digital gardens, personal collections of interconnected notes and ideas that evolve over time, are a better alternative to rigid organizing systems for thinking and sharing. The author says formal tools such as Zettelkasten and Notion's hierarchical folders add too much upfront friction and impose artificial order, while linking by concept helps surface unexpected connections. The workflow moves from seeds (quick bookmarks and scratch notes, such as the author's TabSpace tool) to saplings (single linked thoughts) to fruits (longer essays and projects). The author writes mainly for personal knowledge and notes that the public sharing has encouraged feedback, and reports reading only about 30% of the content sent their way.