They're about a foot high, not six inches.

Oh no, I think they could stay in the ground a bit longer. Mine are practically decrepit, brown and falling over before I lift the bulbs.Traditionally, they are harvested on the shortest day.....but this is in the UK.

You might try posting this in the Alliums forum. There's actually a fairly recent thread going on right now that would be of use to you.
I don't have much experience with garlic, but I have a 12 inch high 4x8 bed filled with it this year. Can't wait to get some of those experience points! lol

Abby

Great, thanks. I'll post over there right now

I'm no expert on these, but here's my 2â: I have a lot of garlic that grew from just a few cloves from 30 years ago. Here in NE US, I leave my bulbs alone until fall, when they've usually produced bulbils too. I removed a large bunch of them that were in the way and laid them out in the garage. I was very surprised to see that when the leaves had dried, the bulbs seemed to have grown noticeably by absorbing the water from the leaves. So, when you do pull them, tie the leaves loosely together and let them hang until cured.

As a side note, I picked up this handy trick: when you are ready to peel the 'paper' off the cloves, place the separated cloves in a medium bowl, place another bowl inverted over the first, and holding the edges together, shake it as hard as you can for 30 seconds. the cloves should be stripped, and no garlick-y fingers. It works for me!

Good luck!

--Rick in CT