CMK,

OH BOY...where do we start here. You have a typical hardneck type garlic, the mini cloves up top are called bulbuils. they are actually mini garlic rounds or seeds that can be planted or eaten, I prefer to eat them if any of mine reach that stage. I would eat them when you think they're ready then wait until four green leaves are left on the plant and harvest the bulb. If you are planting these bulbils you probably aren't getting a very big plant. I could go on and on about this but please go to www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com and read everything on that site about garlic and how to grow it. it's a good source of great information.

Check out a local farmers market this summer and maybe find a couple bulbs you like and plant the cloves in Middle October first week of November.

Thanks bloosquall! I love all the info I can get. That website was very informative. Ill have to go back there when I have a little more time to read it all. So, do you leave the bulb in the ground another year to mature? or do you dig it out and eat it too? or do you separate the bulb and plant the individual cloves?
Ps. Thats a FANTASTIC idea about the farmers market. Ill have to go and find one...
CMK

CMK, The bulbs you get either out of the ground or some where else can be taken apart a day before planting or that day. you plant the individual cloves from the bulb. If I left a bulb in the ground until next summer I'f have a clump of garlic since all the cloves would want to make a plant.

Google "how to grow garlic" you will find many many sites with really good instructions on how to plant the cloves and caring for the plants. What part of Wa are you in ? I'm located near Walla Walla, east side.

Thank you for all your help! I bet you grow some great sweet onions over there. I live in Spokane.
CMK

I live 30 miles west of Olympia.I do not cut the scapes,in fact I cure them with the scapes attached and mostly get bulbs in the 2-3" range.The most important thing is to have a well balanced soil with high fertility and a high nitrogen feeding twice in the spring at leaf emergence and again around Memorial day.I planted 14k last fall,7k the year before.About 2% are no shows and another 3% are runtz.I harvest when the scapes have unfurled and cure with them attached;the dead leaf indicator times out well with the scapes unfurled and the bulbs stay tighter if not juost as big,i.e.they are denser and store longer as in mid to late spring.

BILL