In zone 3 ?! I don't know how cold it gets up there in the winter and how deep your freezing line will be.

Garlic is a bulb, from greater onion family that can survive freezin temperatures. Which means you can plant then in fall ( like now) and it will grow next spring.
But there is no point for doing this since garlic bulb does not need winter cold (like tulips, daffidiles,..).
So you're better off to plant them next spring , as soon as the ground is workable.
So the answer is that depending on the location, garlic can be biannual or annual. Here in Ga, some of my garlics are more than a foot tall, with 4 or more long leaves. I have also planted some yesterday. The ones that are grown, will stay live and green all winter but will not grow measureably. So I can just pull one out and use its green, since theree will not be a bulb there yet. Then early next june I will harvest the remainder.
In zone 3, if you plant them real early spring, probably you can harvest them sometime in August. You will know it when the stems die and fall down.

cyrus

It is my understanding that the hardneck varieties are more suited to the northern climes than the softneck ones. I've grown a couple different hardneck varieties and they do grow very nicely and well in my zone. You get scape from the hardnecks too. Mmmmm....so yummy!

Why not try a hardneck variety?

FataMorgana

I was given a braid of softnecks in November '12 and planted them in January as because they were starting to sprout on the braid.
Of course they all didn't grow but i have enough to get a start/row. AND our temp yesterday(march 18th) was 78 degrees!!
We are warming fast and can still have a frost in late May.. I am in Northern Wisconsin.
Planning on checking soil temps this week and plant these starts. Harvest in late summer? Any comments/suggestions will be appreciated.