What are you currently doing for spacing, feeding, watering, and mulching?

The plants are 4 inches apart in rows that are a foot apart. I do no mulching. I was once advised against that for alliums. I always thought that mulching for alliums was largely for weed suppression, and I have no problem with weeds. My soil has a lot of compost dug in, and is highly friable. I throw some ammonium sulfate on every few weeks. My other nutrients all test out high. They stay reasonably moist, though might dry out a bit more in the summer. How do these things bear on clove size? My bulbs are perfectly large. They just have a lot of small cloves. My onions nearby are treated in the same way and get huge.

You won't like this answer but this is probably just how they grow for you. No magic missing ingredient, you are doing nothing wrong. Maybe try increasing spacing to 6". How do you know when they have stopped growing? Have the plants started to die down?

I know you are limited in choices but maybe research some garlic types you can order that can grow in lower latitudes that will have fewer but larger cloves instead of the 20+ smaller cloves that the "California Early'' produces. Transylvanian Softneck Garlic is easy to find, supposed to have bigger cloves.

Yeah, I figured as much. That it's mainly a varietal issue. They get planted about the same time as my onions, but they don't die down and get harvested until several months after the onions. I will explore Transylvanian. I understand that storebought garlic from China has been treated to prevent sprouting, so planting storebought garlic isn't an option.

I have no advice to give but thanks for reminding me that it's time to fertilize my garlic today before it snows overnight. I use 13-13-13 at planting time in late October/early November and then just Urea 3-4 times from about now to early May.

I've grown about a dozen different varieties and never had much luck with the 2 or 3 softnecks i've grown. Now I just grow German White which has 4-6 large cloves.

That's interesting about German White, and yes it is reported that the cloves are especially large, but it's a hardneck variety that seems to be not well suited to a warm climate. In fact, it is written that a warm climate leads to smaller cloves in that variety. We're kind of stuck down south. We have an uber-long growing season, but optimal alliums (long day onions and hardneck garlic) don't fit well.

I agree with others that it might just be that's how the California grows for you. Maybe bump up your spacing from the 4" to 5-6". Over the years I've introduced and retired a bunch of different garlic in my garden. Some stuff just does better or worse.

Something else... are you getting fresh seed every year from a seller, or are you replanting seed? Sometimes it can be a benefit to take your biggest cloves as your next season seed, and allow your garlic to naturalize more to your garden specific. I've had it happen where it just gets worse, lol. But the good ones, I've culled a small set of "homegrown" in both hard and softneck. By seed I mean the cloves off the head one uses as seed akin to seed potatoes, not the actual seed formed by the flower head in the second year.

I've been growing garlic for just a couple of years, but I replant, and always with the largest cloves. Which, it means, the ones for eating are always the smaller ones. I never use seed. As I said, the heads are suitably large. It's the cloves that are small. So it's not obviously a matter of just improving growing conditions. I get lots of garlic.

Dan, when you harvested your tiny little puny bulbs did they consist of separate cloves or just one little mass like an onion? It's a sign the clove was not chilled long enough... or just not ready. California Early is in the soft neck artichokes group and some of these varieties, because of the soft necks, will fall over prematurely before completely mature, or a combination of hot weather and soft necks. My artichokes often fall over early.

Did you determine maturity because they fell over or the number of dried up leaves? Softnecks that fall can still be a week plus away from maturity and when most of the bulbing happens. I'm just presenting possibilities to consider.

If Calf. early just doesn't grow good in your area try something else. Garlic isn't just hardneck and softneck, these are sub species, but a combination of 11 different groups; Artichoke, Asiatic, Creole, Middle Eastern, Porcelain, Purple Stripe, Glazed Purple Stripe, Marbled Purple Stripe, Rocambole, Silverskin and Turban.

The Artichoke is what you planted and in the same group as the Inchelium Red that I plant, the difference is yours evolved around Gilroy CA and mine in the coleville forests in Wa. I'd suggest Researching each group to find garlic originating in climates similar to yours and see what works.

I suggest first looking at the Creole group which originated around the Mediterranean area that are hardnecks you can grow. I planted Red Sulmona Garlic (known as Aglio rosso) of the Creole group and Bogatyr garlic of the Marbled Purple Stripe group known as the oldest garlic from Russia for the first time last fall. I'll see how well they will grow and if I even want to continue planting them.

10 out of 11 groups are photoperiod plants but daylight required to trigger bulbing is only 12 to 13 hours. It's not like long and short day onions and garlic will grow anywhere, the only difference is climate temperature. Cooler garlic varieties can be grown in warmer climates and only requires more care and attention in warmer areas. Some garlic needs longer chilling periods before planting, all garlic growers in California chill the bulbs up to 2 months before planting.

I know you had a debate about mulching but it does give major benefits for garlic. Garlic doesn't like dry feet what's so ever, and need consistent uninterrupted moisture for good growth. The mulch reduce evaporation from the soil and when wet will naturally cool the ground through the process of evaporative cooling, it's the smart thing to do.

I will gladly ship you a few bulbs from each of the 5 varieties I'm growing in august, free of charge. The shipping cost isn't going to break me and about the price of a happy meal at McDonald. All five of these varieties can be grown in zone 9 and you only need to take the extra steps to ensure proper vernalization, mulch and water well. Let me know.

I think some years are just better. My asparagus went NUTS one year and was way bigger then ever. I heard here that planting bigge cloves would work - I have it seemed to help but I am not sure of that. I have noticed with other plants that giving them a lot more space then is required produces much bigger fruits. I would start there.

Yes, I've heard that about planting bigger cloves to get more garlic, and certainly giving the plant more space would encourage more garlic. But as I said, I get PLENTY of garlic. It's just in the form of small cloves.

Using the biggest and best seed can lead to better heads. That's why garlic seed companies send the biggest cloves for seed, and smaller ones are eaten. Small cloves in a good head can be a sign that the garlic needs more space, or feeding or watering was off, or it's not happy in it's growing location, or mulching needs can be off, or planting depth was off... or just it's not a good variety for that garden and others would do better. Since the OP said they are growing on the tightest space at 4"x12", it might be that bumping that out could be helpful. California Early is supposed to be able to get to 2+" heads, so at a 4" spacing, that's leaving the heads little space for their heads or roots. Garlic does not like to be crowded or have competition. Sometimes gardeners that have trouble with rows get better grow out of square foot or staggered square food planting instead to make more space between the seed.

Again, please note that when I use the term seed in relation to garlic, I am speaking of the cloves used for seed, akin to seed potatoes. I am not speaking of actual seeds from the flower after the second year of growth.

Well, I grow onions at 4"x12" spacing, and they get huge. 4" across. Practically bumping into each other, on the sides, but with loads of room perpendicular.. Onions don't like competition either. The size of the fruit itself has little to do with the available soil underneath. As I said repeatedly, I DO get big heads of garlic. But they just contain smallish cloves say, compared to store-bought garlic. I guess that CAN be a sign that more space, better feeding, or watering might be an issue, but I haven't heard any credible evidence for that.

OK :)