My 2007 softneck garlic crop had an unusually high proportion of bulbs that formed little round bulblets clusted around the stalk just above the main bulb. The main bulbs and cloves in them were, not surprisingly, under-sized.

What causes the plant to create the little round bulblets? (I'm not referring here to scapes -- these bulbs never threw up a flowering head.) How can I prevent them in future years?

BTW, I crush the little bulblets, and throw them into soup stock -- skin and all. So they don't go to waste.