A question for garlic growers
 

Our garlic all came up but the individual cloves are small. Can't figure it out. Anyone know how to get the cloves bigger?
The bulbs were ready to harvest so it's not that they were undergrown.
Tia!

Was this different than usual, or is this the first year you've grown garlic?

On a semi-related note, I believe onions tell us a lot about the coming winter. It does depend on the variety, but if your usual onions have thin walls/rings and a lot of the paper, expect a hard winter. If the rings are thick and the paper minimal, it should be mild. The Walla Wallas we had this year says east of the Mountains the onions expect a pretty easy winter :)

Did you:

1. Fertilize with slow release fertilizer?
2. Cut off any flower shoots that came up in the spring?
3. Cut off the scapes (curly stems that grow out & form a little curly cue)? (you can use these in stir fry, etc. for cooking)

If you harvest too soon the heads will be small. If you harvest too late the heads won't be tight & firm.

Cloves start small and as you replant your previous years garlic, they will be larger cloves. I replant for 4 years, then I will purchase new bulbs and start all over. Is that the potential reason they are smaller. As osewme suggest, be sure to cut the scapes too.

Thank you all!