Did you peel it and find only one fat clove, or does it feel like one clove just as you pulled it out of the ground? I pulled a number of my garlics a little earlier in the dying back stage than I would normally because I wanted to be able to pull off the outermost layer and it's wonderful fungal growth and still have many sheathes remaining by the end of curing. A number of my garlics had me worried I had pulled them too soon because they seemed like only on clove, but then when I pulled the outer layer, it became obvious that they had differentiated into multiple cloves but the sheathes were still plump with moisture so it was hard to tell.

Sounds like you planted your garlic in the spring, and it's supposed to be planted in the fall -- October though at the latest December in your warm climate. Then you do harvest when the tops are about 1/2 - 2/3 died back (around mid July for me, though I guess it could be sooner for you).

If you have only a clump now, then it's probably because they've only been in the ground for a few months. Try again this fall and if you start soon enough, you should get garlic heads. The link below also says you'll need to choose your varieties carefully, since garlic is a bit harder to grow in warm climates.

Here is a link that might be useful: growing garlic in warmer climates

Someone said if you plant in spring pull them up again in fall & plant again to get them to form a head. I'm not sure exactly if you pull them in summer & let them dry before replanting or what. You could try...

I'm not a garlic expert but I do live thirty minutes from the " Garlic Capital of the World " LOL, Gilroy, Ca. It always reeks of garlic here around sometime in June when they all must pull the garlic in the fields to dry so maybe you weren't so far off. Check inside the 'skin' and see if you might have actual cloves hidden under there. If not, plant them earlier next year, in the fall. You can still use the garlic just fine but I know it's a little disappointing to put something in the ground for what seems like forever and have it not what you expect in the end. I thought mine were too small too, but it turns out that there were cloves underneath. I also think, but could be wrong, that mine didn't get enough water this year as rain was severely lacking here and I wasn't diligent about watering by hand as I usually do.
I don't know anything about replanting them (the ones you just pulled) this fall and trying again but I seem to remember there being a post on here somewhere about that.

Angie

I planted mine last fall. I pulled one of mine early because I was out of garlic. It was round and didn't look like it was more than one clove. When I peeled it there were a lot of cloves.

Thanks for your helpful responses, sunnibel7, elisa_Z5, corrine1, Angie, and wertach. I just cut open the "clove" and--voila--it is indeed just one big fat clove! :) I think I'll simply leave the others in the ground to do whatever. And next time, I'll plan to do the right thing and plant the garlic in the fall.