Step 5: What I Learned

So this is the last step, huh? Wow. Really snuck up on me.

What did I learn? Well, let me recap the results of my survey and water conservation tips.

With the survey, I wanted to see how actual gardeners' habits compared to water conservation recommendations I found online. The four recommendations I used for the survey were: use plants native to your area, water only once per week (if minimal rainfall), use collected rainwater, and water in the early morning or late evening. Results were mixed-- the majority of respondents didn't use plants native to Massachusetts (at least on their own) or didn't know where their plants came from. The recommended irrigation frequency was also underrepresented, as only a fifth of respondents chose once-a-week irrigation. Identity of irrigation water was a total let down, as rainwater never appeared (on its own). The overwhelming majority of respondents used tap water. There was some good news with the time of irrigation though: the majority of respondents watered their plants in the recommended times. Overall, it was a mixed bag.

When I set out to implement water conservation tips, I found myself stumped. Most of the recommendations I couldn't do-- some of them were already done, and some of them were out of my range. I was delighted to find that my household did a lot of water conserving things on its own. We already had a bottle of water in the fridge, an efficient washer-machine, Eco-friendly showerheads and a dishwasher that never ran on partially-empty loads. The only thing I wound up doing was scraping plates before they went in the dishwasher instead of rinsing them.

So the overall theme of this project is that there's a great deal of water conservation already happening. Sure, the survey was a partial let down, but there were rays of hope in there as well. There's the majority of people watering at the recommended times, of course, but also little shimmers of the suggestions in the other questions too. Native Massachusetts plants appeared in the plant origins question, although very small, and once-a-week irrigation was present in the frequency of watering inquiry. They were probably also present in the combination options too. While the recommendations were in small quantities, they were still present in the gardeners' activities. Meanwhile, there was a similar thing in my household. We still have room to improve, certainly, but there is a lot we've already done. That sentiment is what I saw in my studies-- room to improve, but a lot already done.

It's been a great time doing this project! I liked blogging and collecting answers for my survey. I do hope that you enjoyed following it as I did conducting it.

Thank you!