Daffodils

I have always dug up spring daffodil bulbs following flowering and then prepared the beds for summer bedding.After many years I am beginning to get a bit fed up with all this work and am wondering if I might try leaving them in the soil.Being a very tidy gardener has put me off this practice but I was thinking of perhaps other ways of management such as folding the leaves over and tying them until the foilage dies off.Any tips?

 

After the bulbs have finished flowering, the leaves are required to collect sunlight to feed the bulb. The old way was to fold the leaves over or tie them but now we are advised to leave them undamaged as long as possible. They only need to be lifted every (?) years. I've had my garden now for 12 years and not dug them up yet, although I was planning to this year to separate the clumps.BTW, I don't grow bulbs in flower beds, too much trouble. Either in the lawn or dedicated space, say along a hedge/fence.

 

Terrier is right - its important not to remove or tie up the leaves for at least 6 weeks so that that food stores can be built up in the bulb to help it flower the following year. As long as the bulbs are deep enough (I put them in at 15cm/6 inches for Daffs and 20cm/9 inches for Tulips,(yes, I know its deep, but it does seem to work to extend the amount of years the bulbs will keep flowering) you can leave them in until flowering starts to diminish before splitting the clumps.
One way, if you are concerned about "scruffiness", is to plant your bedding/annuals in amongst the leaves which will help protect the growing plants, these plants will then help hide the bulb foliage as it dies down.