Just separate the cloves and bury them about 4" down or so. Nothing to it. About 4-6" spacing is fine.

Yes, they can be planted now. They probably won't send up any greenery until very early spring which is fine.

In zone 4 you might also want to cover the planting area with some fallen leaves... remove with the first spring thaws.

i love this site. ask and you shall receive.

thank you juat and viking

i am going to put themin the ground right away.

i have 27 cloves. well it is a start.

Dean

I covered mine with lots and lots of pine needles. afterwards I wondered if it would be ok. I know pine needles are acidic and don't know if that will affect the garlic. Is it ok or are leaves better?

I don't know what you mean by 'biannual', biennial plants bloom in their second year. Onions are biennial, and perhaps from seed/bulbils garlic is too, but growing from cloves the garlic either will bloom (hardneck) or not (softneck), and you'll be harvesting 6-8 months after planting. Northern types of Garlic grow pretty much like tulips and daffodils, plant in the fall and they come up first thing in the spring. Early types like turban garlic come up in the fall (mine is already over 6" tall, which is fine in Z9).