It often happens the experts disagree,,,I always fall planted my garlic, and i still do with quite a bit of it. The past two years i have planted my red russian in feb. and have had fantastic results,,, one of the problems with winter planting is getting that window of weather good enough to carry it out, great sized garlic thats keeps cannot be planted too late granted, but in my opinion too early often leads to freeze back on tops that got too far along before winter hit, as they say timing is everything, success is also related to the genetics you have in your seed garlic, rich soil, ample composted manure(chicken lately here), and good curing practices, if the weather allows and you have some local grown garlic give it a try.

Well, thank you everyone for your responses. I started pulling some up yesterday and it indeed was ready. Some were planted to close together to form a sizeable head, but that's what you get when you let your kids plant with you. I did get a few rounds, I may plant them again, or just use them as garlic onions. Upon pulling them out I realized that had I left them in till the end of June or July like I was going to, the wrappers would have rotted away. This is only my second year growing garlic and believe it or not, I didn't look anything up about growing it, I just put it in and my Grandma told me what to look for when it's ready and that was it. It seemed very easy. It wasn't till all the reading and research did I start to get worried this year, I guess ignorance really is bliss. The one thing I learned for sure is I think I will stick with the hardnecks, if they do well in California. I've already prepared a site for the fall garlic that won't take up any of my precious tomato space next year. That was the only hard thing about growing garlic, trying to decide where to plant it since it's going to be in for a while, but I'm all set now! Thank you again to everyone who helped me, and I look forward to many more years of garlic growing.

The problem I have with late planting in this neck of the woods is the fear of having to plant in wet soil in November if not planted in late September into October when the soil is nice to work with. Walking on a wet garden and planting garlic in wet soil is not my idea of fun. I don't worry anymore about garlic survival after seeing elephant going into the dormant period with 5-6 leaves 5 inches tall. I have seen them get their tops frozen and turned mushy the whole length of the leaves. Come warm weather, they grow like mad and make huge bulbs. Have never lost a bulb under these conditions. Last year, with no snow cover, they went through 2 nights of minus 10. When they thawed last winter, their leaves were all mush. I thought sure they would not survive. As usual, they did. Happy New Year to all. In about 3 hours is one of my favorite times because on January first I consider it turning the corner and down hill toward getting out into the dirt and answering the bell for another year of growing stuff. Geezer

Yeah, I'm with you, except I have not put all of my hoses away yet...I just drain and unhook them every evening. I've been watering my trees like a mad woman.