Sounds like you are rushing, they shouldn't be ready yet. I'm in 7b SC, and mine get a growth spurt about the middle of May. I haven't pulled any, but I've scratched the dirt to check and mine are about 3/4" or so too.

If you're in a hurry, try Korean Red. Mine has already bulbed out and is putting up scapes.

I am going to try new garlic every year & plant cloves from the ones I like best. I not in a hurry, I can wait, this being my first year I just do not know what they should look like.
But I should be more knowledgeable next Spring.
Thanks wertack, being in the same state helps me understand garlic in my garden.
apoppyfield, thanks, I will try Korean Red if Mike sales it.

You won't really see the size of your bulbs until after they are partially through the curing process. My smallest strain is Korean red, which forms little 1.5 inch diameter bulbs, but they keep forever. Any hardnecks you have will produce scapes before the cloves finish fattening up.

I was told that softneck does better in HOT S.C.
I do not know much about hardneck garlic.

Korean Red is by no means the earliest of garlic. I have German Red (new to me this year), Spanish Rojo and Early Italian Purple which are scaping like crazy. The Korean Red is showing no signs of a scape and will be ready for harvest sometime between the Italian Purple (early June) and German Extra Hardy (mid-July.)

I have managed to get better sized bulbs from the Korean Red, btw, but nothing like Music or any porcelain, for that matter. Both of these keep well, but the Music is a bit mild for my taste.

I have Italian Loiacono, Chinese Red, Dushanbe & a bonus of Greek garlic & a wild garlic found in North Carolina.
The wild is cloveless & was planted in Jan,2012 & looks better then the others. The colveless Garlic was found at an old homestead, but may have came from China many years ago. The man who gave it to me, has grown it for over 30 years.
I have seen the names of some of your garlic in some sites.
I have only bought from Wegrowgarlic.com

I believe that as long as they are well watered, they should reach full size. They garlic that I grow in my actual garden beds which are only spaced about 4 inches apart usually grow larger than the store bought ones of the same species. It's also important to grow them in full sun to maximize starch production.

One way I keep the moisture level up is by ensuring that the beds have at least 2 inches of tree leaves to prevent the sun from drying up the soil, and I will water them after several days without rain. As far as fertilizers, the only thing I use on them is milorganite in order to keep them nice and green. Otherwise, there's no need to fertilize garlic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Some of my garlic plants

Thanks for the link,steve. Nice pic's.
I have scapes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, as always you all are right.

Removed scapes & watered twice week, if it does not rain.
Garlic is getting bigger.

Some of my garlic has all brown blades, some are leaning over & some has all the skin rotted off. You can see the cloves some I pulled all of it this week.

If they are mature, each clove on the bulb should be bulging outwards, and when you separate the cloves, they should be kind of rounded and firm. I believe that they need to be fully developed in order to last through the winter.

All brown leaves and open cloves sounds like you might have pulled them up a little late. You should harvest garlic when 1/2-2/3 of the leaves have browned. The remaining green leaves are the "wrapper leaves". The bulbs where you can see the cloves should be used first as they don't store well at all.

Rodney

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Hopefully I can do better next year.

From the photo you definitely harvested too late. Generally you want to harvest when there are 4 or 5 green leaves left especially if you want to store them for a long time.

A variety of things could be contributing to the size. You only want big healthy cloves for planting and you want to fertilize your garlic because they are heavy feeders. How big were your plants? Generally big plants lead to big bulbs. Also once the garlic scapes are removed you will want to stop watering so much, otherwise the wrappers will rot away.

I was told to only plant the large clove ,but I planted all of them. So maybe some of the small bulbs are from small cloves. I was told to plant only 1 inch deep & because I planted in fresh tilled soil, I put some clove deeper then 1 inch. I discovered this when I dug them.
I did not know to remove the scapes until the last minute, but continued to water. So the over watering may have rotted the wrappers.
Thank you for your reply on my photos.
But I am learning & will try this again this Fall.

Some of mine are small, they got buried too deep from a very heavy storm. I should have dug out the extra dirt.

werteck, perfect depth is 1 inch or that what I was told.
But in our warmer winters is it better to be closer to the grade line or deeper?
Will a heavy mulch help or hurt the clove development?
Should the mulch be removed in the warm Spring?

In the very early spring it might help to reduce the amount of mulch, not get rid of it completely, just to allow the soil to warm up a little quicker. Once the weather warms you can add it back. As long as the mulch hasn't become matted down and impervious to water it won't hurt clove development. A real heavy soil might hurt it, but not the mulch.

Rodney

I have grown garlic successfully for the last two years when I lived in Nashville (Z7) and had lousy clay soil that I amended to make it workable. Big beautiful bulbs. I saved cloves each year to replant. No problems. Last year I move to Indiana (Z5), I plant my garlic (deeper than an inch though, way deeper, maybe more like 4 inches deep? Same process as always. In raised beds that are 50% soil and 50% compost. And everything I"m harvesting are horrible dinky bulbs.

Which is to say 1) anyone have a good explanation for why previously successful cultivation went poorly this year--crazy weather? and 2) maybe it just means everyone can have an off year and your bulbs could be great next year.