Each clove produces one plant - did you perhaps mean that you planted 2-3 whole bulbs? If so, each clove within the bulb would produce a plant and they would be clustered together. You can harvest "garlic chives" from this planting, but it is much too late for bulb formation.

To grow garlic bulbs you should plant the individual and separated cloves in late October/early November for central NJ. Plant them 3" deep at 6" spacing in rows about 12" apart, and cover them with 3-4" of mulch. When the tops emerge in March, give them some high nitrogen fertilizer and repeat in early May. Harvest the bulbs when about half of the leaves are yellow/brown, usually between late June and mid July depending on the variety.

I would recommend buying your seed bulbs from local farmers, who can be found at local garlic festivals or gatherings. There is usually one held in Olde Lafayette Village in NJ in October (http://www.lafayettevillageshops.com/calendar.htm), or the mother of garlic festivals in Saugerties NY in September (http://www.hvgf.org). Plant the largest cloves of the largest bulbs for best results. There are many different varieties, and I recommend German White for your area.

TomNJ

Just to make it clear, I planted cloves from 3 garlic, about 20-30 plants, in 3 rows.

I know they may not form garlic, but from some garden books, my impression is that at least they will produce garlic greens, as vegatable. They say spring planting and fall planting.....

After 6 weeks they should definitely be up by now. Did you plant garlic from the supermarket? Sometimes these are treated to prevent germination in storage.

TomNJ

They are supermarket type. But from what I've seen, all would sprout if stored for long.

This is still a possibiity. Not sure if weather/season plays any role here.

I think June would be too late for spring planted garlic . You need some cool/cold temps.June in NJ wasn't cool. Most who have luck with spring planted garlic plant EARLY spring and live in colder climates. Folks in NJ (that Fall planted )should be finshed harvesting by now.

The heat is too intense for garlic even if it did come up now.
Start over this fall. Be looking for local farmers that may have garlic for sell now.

I agree , I am by no means a garlic expert but everything ive ever read is they need it to be cool to sprout.

OK, a few things.

Yes, June was pretty late to plant garlic. I believe you need to go through temps in the 30's to get any bulbing. Plus the more plant size you can get the better the bulbing can get.

But your problem is only getting 4 plants out of 20-30 cloves.

There's a chance the bulbs were sprayed to inhibit sprouting.

There's a chance there wasn't any root left on the basal plate.

There's a chance you planted the cloves upside-down.

There's a chance you planted in poor soil.

There's a chance it didn't get enough water to sprout.

As you can see, planting garlic in June is pretty... ummm.. chancey?

I would try to dig up 1 or 2 cloves where you planted them to see if they rotted, dried out, grew any roots, etc. The best way to plant supermarket garlic in the spring (if you must) is seeing it sprout in the fridge first! Then at least you know it's viable.

Hope this helps.

MaterMark

The bulbs I planted are in perfect condition;
They were planted in perfect position;
The soil is fair or good;
Soil is moist;
Garlic is not like potato and you can spray to prevent the bulbs from sprouting. They are just so many layers of protection.

The 4 plants are in very good condition and they are still growing. The rabbits and deers would leave them alone.

I figure the weather is the main factor. Most of the bulbs are in hibernation and wait for the right temperature. I may take out one or two to take a look. I have no reason to think they would rot now. Thx.

If you planted them 6 weeks ago, and nothing sprouted, I listed some possible reasons. If you dig some up now, there may be cloves there, or there may be nothing there. Garlic would try to take root before it sends up shoots, but six weeks is very long. How long was it before you saw the other sprouts break the surface? I would try digging at least 1 or 2 and see if there are any cloves there, and if so, if they have grown any roots.

To the best of my knowledge, warm temperatures will not inhibit sprouting - bulbing, yes...but not sprouting. Many supermarket garlics are treated to prevent germination, and this sounds like to most likely cause here. Either that or they rotted in the warm moist soil.

TomNJ