An ecological tea garden in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/hz66.com]

Huzhou in East China's Zhejiang province has been reaping dividends from the construction of ecological tea gardens.

An ecological garden usually sees shelter forests built around it, trees planted along roads, and grass planted under or near the tea trees to conserve water.

Mo Genqin, the owner of a 400-mu (26.67 hectares) ecological tea garden in Heping town in Huzhou's Changxing county, expects the yield of Longjing, a premium variety of green tea which recently entered the harvest season, to remain stable this year despite the lower temperatures.

Trees grown in the garden could help block some cold winds which deter tea's growth, Mo explained, adding that the plum and fruit trees could also improve the aroma of the tea, prevent pests and diseases, and help retain water in the soils.

"Last year's dry weather had a little impact, but not much. We have many kinds of trees locking in the water in the soil," Mo said.

Authorities have in recent years rolled out a bevy of incentives to encourage farmers to build ecological tea gardens. There are presently 180,000 mu of such gardens in Huzhou.