1. Choose healthy mother plants: Look for healthy, disease-free strawberry plants that are vigorous and produce large, juicy berries.
2. Identify runners: Runners are the small tendrils that grow out from the mother plants. They produce new plantlets at the end of them.
3. Prepare a new bed: Choose an area in the garden with well-drained soil and plenty of sun. Add compost or organic matter to enrich the soil if needed.
4. Plant the runners: Gently lay the runners on the soil and anchor them down with a wire or a stone to encourage rooting. Alternatively, you can cut the runners off the mother plant and plant them directly into the new bed.
5. Water and mulch: Keep the soil moist until the new plants have established themselves. Mulch around the plants to help keep the soil moist and to reduce weed growth.
6. Maintain the plants: After the strawberries have produced fruit in their first year, remove any runners that appear to encourage larger fruit production in the subsequent years.
7. Harvest the berries: Once the plants have established themselves, you can harvest the berries when they are ripe and enjoy the fruits of your labor.