Jeff, did you cut off the scapes this spring? Scapes are the "flower" stalks that emerge from the full-grown plants. They are not flowers, but clusters of bulbils; unless removed, they will consume much of the plant's energy, resulting in small bulbs.

Nope. Nothing I read anywhere said to do that. But I didn't even get small bulbs! So can I at least get seeds or something?

You could plant the bulbils, but they take several years to grow; it may not be worth the time & effort. You can also still plant the cloves that you have (there won't be many) for next year.

After you have cured (dried) your bulbs for at least 30 days, examine the size of the cloves. If they appear smaller than the ones you planted, they would most likely produce small bulbs if planted. Should that be the case, if you have access to fresh stock, I would recommend just starting over.

Most of the mail-order companies that I have ordered garlic from (such as Seed Savers Exchange) either enclose a garlic planting guide, or offer one at low cost. You can also pick up tips from other posts in this forum. Garlic is fairly simple to grow, but there are procedures that must be performed at the proper time to ensure the largest bulbs.

There are no cloves! That's why I'm so confused!

Jeff,

I too am a first time grower, and did not remove the scapes...guess I should have hung out here more and less at other places. I too have crappy soil, and did not get it amended b4 planting late last fall.

Weeds have overtaken it, and I still need to find/dig it, even if only for replanting later.

Possibly I will have some to share if you are interested.

I had about 4-5 kinds of garlic, and a few different onions.

Email me in a week, or so if interested in sharing the bounty, if I have any to share.

Sue

Thanks for the offer. Really, I'm most interested in an answer though! How can I get absolutely no growth underground except for roots?

Nobody has established if it were true garlic or elephant garlic. If it were elephant garlic, it is indeed possible to have what would appear to be the same undivided clove after the first season's growth. Happened too many times for me!

If it were true garlic, and the ground was terribly poor, hard, and never had proper water, then many of the smaller varieties may only produce a round. Wildfire and Legacy pulled that trick on me this year and thus earned their "never again" status.

Martin

It's not elephant garlic. I guess I should have the soil tested. It shouldn't be that bad and it was tilled pretty good so who knows?

what zone are you in and when did you plant them? You probably know this but Fall is the time for most zones and many people say it takes nine months to get nice bulbs,