Gardening: What is deadheading and is it really necessary?

Beginner gardeners may be baffled by the lack of flowering after the first flush of blooms, but maybe they just need to give plants the right treatment

Remove spent flowers from your plants to keep your garden blooming. Picture: Alamy/PA

If you want to encourage more blooms and prolong your flowering period through the summer, get your snippers out and start cutting off wilted or dead flowers now.

Beginner gardeners may be baffled by the lack of flowering after the first flush of blooms, but it could be they just haven’t given their plants the right treatment.