As far as the garlic goes, earlier is better than later so don't worry much. If it's harvested early, it may not be as large as it could have been. If it's harvested late, it splits and doesn't keep as well.

On the onions, I'm really not sure how well they will keep with the tops cut before curing. Someone else should chime in with advice for you.

I agree with madroneb, you are well within the window for harvesting soft neck garlic.

In gardening it is more likely that best practices are discussed (for a lot of good reasons) rather than what is possible. From my reading commercial onions are flailed (mowed), lifted, trimmed, placed in sacks, left to cure in the field, transported, stored, transported, etc...

Yours should be fine. It does not get any better than family and gardening.
Best of luck!

Well, what she did isn't ideal, its better to allow the entire top to dry down first, but I think overall it won't have a big effect. Just watch them for rot starting around the stem and use any that do right away or process for storage by freezing or drying.

Ok, thanks so much all. I will keep a close eye on them. They are huge and gorgeous! Great crop this year.

I read in a couple places that onions should be harvested when 1/4 to 1/3 have flopped over (warm, humid climate). Is that not right? I should wait until they have all flopped over and dried up?

My rule of thumb is when 1/2 the patch has fallen, knock the rest over, wait a week and harvest.

sorry about the stutter, I guess I hit the submit button twice.....