Hi. I live in CT and planted cloves 10/17/15 and have the same problem you do with at least 4-6" of sprouting. I staggered planting to the end of October, early and late November, early December and finally 12/26/15 since its been so warm here. I have planted at least 300-350 cloves and bulbils in total. Mulch really well with 2-4" of straw mulch and you should be fine for the winter. Good luck!

Hope so, mine is twice the size! From what I've read, nothing to worry about. If it was dormant and soaked with all this crazy rain then I'd be worried. Developing roots and top growth, no worries. Enjoy the winter growth!

I got out to put some seaweed based fertilizer on most of my garlic and also the parsnip bed. Those planted in beds which were not amended looked pretty peeked. I usually wait until the middle of January for the first dose of ferts, but they haven't had any dormancy as of yet (NoCal zone 15.)

I have better growth than that here in Minneapolis, but now my ground is finally frozen and we have some snow cover. I do not worry about garlic hardiness, especially my hardnecks, but I have had no real issue with the few softnecks I plant either. One of my hardnecks is actually a collected feral that took care of itself for close to 30 years with no care whatsoever, in a climate every bit as harsh as here in Minneapolis. Other hardy alliums sprout commonly in the fall and survive with top growth through our zone 4 winters and I have seen garlic do so as well. I usually get some top growth from at least one variety every year, and have to say that it does not seem to hurt. For me it is not the temperature that has been a problem, but rather failure to account for freeze/thaw drainage on frozen ground during snow melt in the spring. I learned the hard way and now plant on mounded rows.