You have hit on the problem -- If cloves are not ready to break dormancy, they will not grow. I have had some luck planting them in containers kept outdoors until hard freezes come. The next challenge is that the plants need very bright light to make good green growth. Without a greenhouse, the results may be sad.

If you want garlic flavored greens, I would go for the garlic chives - the things grow easily from seed (actually a problem in the garden where they will take over). Plus the leaves are more tender than the greens of actual garlic. And these things are made to cut and regrow. In my yard, in fairly short order, I already have many more than I use on a normal basis. There was even one bunch of these that I had dug up and moved from my previous home that I never planted, just left on the ground in complete shade close to the north side of my house, that has grown well, spread out, put on seed heads, etc., in the little more than a year it has been there. Seems like something that would do fine in a pot in a sunny window.

I already have garlic chives in ground.

Some folks grow garlic green indoors in water with pebbles over winter. They grow very quickly and the shoots are tender. And it appears very easy. I just have not tried it.

I think in order for the cloves to grow, the cloves should be chilled. Or we can plant the ones already sprouted.

For the sake of testing, I just planted a planter with unchilled garlic cloves. They are just store garlic. Costs about $0.25 a bulb. I also put two other bulbs in the frig to chill, then plant them in another container.

Nothing really to lose. They do not have to be watered often. Then I'll use the space for spring seed starting.