Tea terraces continue to grow: cultivation & vision - why and how does one create a terrace garden?

The Tea Terrace - a Swedish imitation of traditional Asian tea cultivation

The Tea Terrace – a southwest-facing slope on the farm in Marieholm – began to be established in March this year, but the actual tea cultivation has been ongoing since 2023 when we planted our first specimens in Kävlinge. We still maintain the cultivation there, and with the establishment in Marieholm, we are now taking the next step towards a classic tea terrace. 

Here we grow genuine tea, Camellia sinensis, from several different varieties originating from colder climates. These are varieties that have been recognized and developed for their particularly good hardiness, originally from mountainous regions in, among others, China, Georgia, and Switzerland. We have selected the varieties that are most hardy against both cold and drought, and that at the same time produce flavorful tea of high quality.

We sell plants to customers who want to grow at home – and more and more people are discovering the possibility of actually growing their own tea in Sweden. For us, tea cultivation is an important part of the business, and this year we are especially looking forward to making our first real harvest.

Right now we are growing, among other things:

• 'Georgian Classic' – robust and easy to cultivate, with a flavor that suits black, green, and white tea

• 'Kolkhida' – low and hardy, with small aromatic leaves suitable for black, green, and white tea; small-leafed varieties are often more hardy

• 'Kymin' – a Georgian variety linked to the Keemun tradition: a well-known Chinese black tea

• 'Longjing 43' – classic green tea variety from Zhejiang

• 'Tieguanyin' – is excellent for oolong or black tea

• 'Tearoma' – a Swiss variety developed specifically to be grown in Europe's colder regions

We have cultivated 'Tearoma' since last year and this variety has shown good signs of hardiness over the winter. We have also cultivated a Dutch variety, 'Tea By Me', since last year and they also survived the winter but showed greater sensitivity, especially to wind. When the supplier of the latter also told us that they would shift from selling plants to fully focusing on producing their own teas down in the Netherlands, it was easy for us to look further. 

It was then that we found the top 5 above varieties that are grown in northwestern France. They are grown by an established tea plantation – more advanced than any of our Swedish tea cultivation projects. They have many different varieties that they cultivate and propagate at their plantation since 2006.

During the month of July, we expanded the tea terrace with an additional four planting rows of these varieties.

Left: Kolkhida, Kymin, and Tearoma in ascending order. Right: Longjing 43, Georgian Classic, and Tearoma in ascending order.

We have chosen to let a couple of rows remain uncultivated for the moment. Reserved for new types of tea bushes that we plan to introduce in the future. There are many exciting varieties under evaluation for cultivation in Nordic conditions.

The tea terrace is not just a cultivation site, but also a living part of our inspiration, our learning, and a place for our conversations with customers and other stakeholders. The shape of a tea terrace is chosen to imitate the way tea is traditionally grown in large parts of Asia. The vision is that the tea terrace can become somewhat of an icon for what is possible to do with tea cultivation even in Sweden. Here we follow the development of the tea bushes, test, observe – and eventually, we will also be able to offer our own harvests.

You are warmly welcome to visit us in Marieholm if you want to see the tea terrace on site – or check out the webshop to see our current tea plants.

Why grow in terraces?

There are many reasons why people grow in terraces. Originally, the idea probably comes from the fact that in the regions where tea is grown, a large part of the arable land consists of slopes. To make use of the area, rows are therefore created on the mountain slope to create a growing area that both retains water better, protects against erosion, and becomes easier to manage. The tea bushes' roots then help to hold the soil in place and counteract erosion in the long term. 

 

Reason number two is wind protection. On a slope, the tea bushes are naturally protected from wind in more directions than they would be on flat ground. The biggest threat to tea bushes is intense winds, especially in winter. 

The third reason is especially important for us who grow in colder climates and that is frost drought. If you manage to find a slope that protects from morning sun, that is, slopes west and protects from the east, your plants will largely be protected from frost drought. The risk of frost drought is greatest in the morning during late winter / early spring when the sun is strong enough to wake the leaves and let them evaporate moisture at the same time when the ground is frozen - which prevents the plant from absorbing moisture and leads to drying out. By preventing early morning sun from reaching the plant before the ground has warmed up, the risk of sudden drying out is reduced.

Frost drought can, however, be prevented in other ways, for example by covering from above with e.g. jute fabric during early spring and covering the ground with wood chips, spruce twigs, straw, or similar. We carry out both these steps already in November to protect against the worst wind and cold during winter. The covering then remains until spring to also protect against frost drought.

How do you create a terrace plantation?

1. Find a suitable slope. Anything from 1 meter and up - it doesn't have to be grand! If it is high enough to protect from the wind and also faces so that it protects from the sun in the east, that's great.
   

2. Clear the area if needed. Keep a crowbar and axe close at hand if you encounter stubborn excess roots from unwanted plants.
   
3. Start hoeing. Use a wide hoe to bring out the rows from the slope.
   

4. If your soil is porous and erosion-prone - drive in sticks and create embankments that hold the soil in place. I did this easily with branches from nearby willow trees that had just been pruned. From the branches, I made sticks that I drove down along the edge of the row. Then I tried to find and pair branches that had a curve matching the row’s curve, and then laid them out horizontally against the driven-in sticks to form an embankment that holds the soil in place.

   This step is not necessary if you have soil with good stability.
   

5. Dig out the rows. After the rows are established, you can then use either a pointed hoe or a spade to dig out the soil in the rows. This is done to be able to fill the rows with the right soil which for tea bushes is a soil with a lower pH - such as rhododendron and blueberry soil.

6. Fill the rows with rhododendron/blueberry soil. This type of soil suits the tea bush's requirement for acidic and loose soil. We have professional grower quality soil in the store if you drop by.

7. Plant and fertilize your tea bushes. Plant the tea bushes with anywhere from 30 to 100 cm spacing depending on how dense you want your rows to be and how large you want to keep your tea bushes. The tea bushes (var. sinensis) can grow to around 2 meters tall, but you can also keep them shorter than that. If you want a tea terrace with 2-meter-high bushes, a planting distance of 100 cm is recommended as that is approximately the width a single tea bush reaches with age. We have planted our bushes very close, around 30 cm, partly out of pure impatience to create a dense and aesthetic terrace, but also with the thought that the tea bushes might grow somewhat slower in our climate and that there is a chance they won't get quite as large. When planting, we mix in about half a deciliter of Rhodogödsel per plant to give the plants a really good start.

A terrace cultivation can of course be established for other types of plants than tea bushes. Just replace the soil and fertilizer in steps 5 and 6 to suit your specific plant choice. :)

Below are some pictures showing the process from start to the finished terrace:

 

   

Thanks for reading so far! See you in the next post...