So what help are you looking for?

The protective cover is the bulb wrapper. It is moist and succulent after harvest and requires 3-4 weeks to cure properly in ideal conditions (warm/dry/good ventilation) so I think you rushed things a bit causing you to have to cut the wrapper off. Looking at your first photo it appears that there are only 2 green leaves left and three or 4 brown ones so judging by that I would say that you dug them at the correct time, but it should not have had 'a dozen or so' wrappers left if only 2 green leaves remained when harvested. Were the pictures taken right after harvest or after the 1 week cure? The bulb does look rather small but so does the plant. I am not familiar with that variety but it looks like a softneck from the photos. If it is an artichoke type they typically harvest early, Silverskin types are usually harvested much later.

You could probably allow a bit more die back, before digging more, but the size of the clove says you are not really too early, especially considering that you are zone 8. Do allow more time for curing, when you do dig. Do not judge, until the dry off and curing process is complete. I would have to guess that this is a "runt" in your bed and not to necessarily judge the rest of you planting by it. That kind of plant often "ripens" early and is smaller than its fellows.

I would guess this one was a runt too.. In a bed full of garlic, sometimes you get a peewee. Based off the clove size I would say you are pretty spot on for harvest time. By the looks of the leaves that looks right in the ballpark for picking as well.

And having a lot of layers of paper isn't too alarming either as far as I can tell- my garlic usually has more layers than store bought- I think they clean off the heads a lot more than when you pull it from your own garden. It can have something to do with the variety itself too- I grow a few different kinds and some of them have more paper or tougher paper layers than others do.

Now, if time comes and you pull all your garlic, and all of them are peewees- then you might want to consider other things going on in your garlic patch. Like spacing of planting, weeding, nutrients in the soil, mulching, watering, and those kinds of factors. It also might have something to do with the size of your seed garlic- if those were really small, they might have produced smaller heads in general.

LOL I have had all of them turn out peewees and you are right-on about considering culture changes when that happens! I can relate to learning that the hard way.

Most of my garlics mature close enough together that I can harvest all at once. I watch my potato onions and last year took them at the same time. The leader for me last year were the Japanese, but all cured real well and kept well too. Music was still in usable condition well into March and some bulbs though shriveled still have usable cloves - at about 10 months now, stored at room temperature right there in the kithchen. I still have some potato onions in real good shape, too, but then that is par for the course with them.

I had no problem with any variety keeping until planting time last fall, or sprouting about 100% of the cloves. My only losses were the couple the squirrels dug out, before deciding they are not garlic fans. So I say it is better to dig a bit early than a bit late, although it may take longer to get a good cure. And that is the key once the bulbs are far enough along, warm, well ventilated and dry for as long as it takes to get a complete dry down and a good husk.

BTW that works for tulips, too - in both cases you want to keep the full stalk and leaves attached to the bulb to dry off on the racks. You just make sure to pick off any seed pod when the petals fall and dig no later than when the tulip foliage starts to yellow - once again a bit early is better than a bit late. I expect to have dug my red Appeldoorns well before Memorial day this year. I intend to shoot for digging at the first sign that any of them are yellowing.

Agreed with OldDutch. I wait till the tops are completely dry, and what rootlets are attached at the bottom are brittle and dry before I consider the garlic "done" for storage. Even then, I tend to just let the bunches sit in their curing shelves till I really need to clear those shelves off for something else. Better to let them sit overly long on the curing shelf rather than pull them off too soon.

But absolutely no more green on the tops, and the tops totally dried out for sure before considering them cured.

And lol, OldDutch.. I do have a hard time keeping the seed cloves till planting time next fall- because my family wants to eat all the best cloves first! So I have to smack hands and say NO! to the precious best heads that are going into seed stock, much to the whining discontent of the family, lol.

I do square foot in raised beds for my garlic- and promptly had to expand from one 3x 6 bed to a bit beyond triple that once my family got their teeth into good homegrown garlic. And now I'm planning on putting in two more beds for this falls planting just to keep up. For me, it isn't the squirrels that trouble the beds- it's the snakes. Since I coddle those raised beds, they love to tunnel into them, and from first thaw on till the garlic gets a good grow on I'm constantly having to backfill in the tunnels. They never touch the garlic itself, but leave big tunnels between the heads. On the bright side, since the snakes love those beds, the squirrels, chipmunks, and voles leave them utterly alone!