What is a digital garden?
I like this definition of a digital garden I found on google!
*“A digital garden is basically a combination of an online notebook and a personal Wikipedia. It’s your personal collection of ideas.
‍Though they aren’t new, digital gardens are having their moment, growing in popularity across particular corners of the internet.”1
How is this site built?
A close friend (Henry) introduced me to the note taking app Obsidian
I write my notes once in Obsidian and a handy application called Quartz takes these files and converts my notes into a static webpage which is then hosted with a free web-hosting service called Cloudflare pages.
Initially when this site was created I used a plugin called Obsidian Digital Garden this was slightly less hands-on than using Quartz. I migrated to Quartz in September 2024 as I preferred the way the site looked and some of the features in Quartz. If you’re considering making your own site you can check out how GPGarden looked on the Obsidian digital garden plugin here https://jkgpgarden.vercel.app/
This method seems ideal as it reduces duplication of work. Obsidian is excellent for creating links between pages and keeping things organised. I also like the philosophy of file over app touted by Obsidians’ creator.
Apart from paying ($8 per month) to have my notes synced to my phone the process was free and easy to follow.
Create your own digital garden
If you’d like to create your own you’ll need a small amount of tech savviness, and I do mean a small amount.
- Get obsidian https://obsidian.md/
- Get used to writing in obsidian and using markdown - I found this markdown guide helpful https://www.markdownguide.org/cheat-sheet/
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- Get publishing - follow the instructions on this website to build and publish your first site using the digital garden plugin or Quartz (other static site generators are available)