I planted Alliums on Friday, the ground is still workable so you should be O.K. with garlic.

I thought Montreal was zone 3b! Hummm... I'm in Hardwick, Vermont (about 30 miles south of you), maybe I'm NOT in top of zone 4, bottom of zone 3 after all!

I was just discussing garlic at work today, and my co-workers are of the opinion that without a greenhouse, it's impossible to grow garlic up here, because the season is too short. Can you tell me how you are doing it?

Seething,

Zones are not exactly straight lines across the map. The reason Montreal is milder(5b) than parts of Vermont is because it is in a huge flat valley, with the St-LAwrence flowing through (and around, MTL being an island) whereas Vermont has elevation, mountainous parts etc..
Thought this might help you figure it out.

Sorry for waiting so long. U must simply plant some cloves in the fall, around mid-november, about 1 1/2 inch deep, with the roots up. The frost will cause the cloves to germinate in the spring and grow in the summer, giving you the juiciest garlic bulbs in october. You can eat the shoots while they are young and tender in the summer: just steam them up and enjoy!

Sorry, the garlic crop actually starts earlier, some time in september. It is the planting that takes places around mid october ;)

I ordered some garlic for planting in June 2005. Will this yield a crop at all for the fall? We had frost mid-June last year and again the first week of August!

Spring planted garlic is sensitive to daylength, in that it will bulb poorly during long days if it isn't mature enough by the time the really long days of June come around. If at all possible, try to get your spring garlic planted by mid April. I wouldn't be unduly worried about late spring frosts affecting it. If you can't get your bulbs planted until June, you will likely get bulbs back that aren't much larger than the original cloves. But you can dig them and replant in fall (Sept, maybe Oct) or try to store them till next spring and plant them earlier - but it might be just as easy to buy new stock. There are a few garlic specialists in Canada that will sell garlic for fall planting. Not all garlic varieties are equal in hardiness though. Fall planting is slightly risky here but generally gives far superior yields if the bulbs survive. You may have to experiment until you find an adaptable variety for your region. I tried 5 new (to me) varieties this past year (planted in Sept) and 1 totally winterkilled; best for me was Chesnok Red, with Inchelium Red in second place.