Wow, I thought this was too early, but maybe not. Italian grandmother taught me that you plant garlic and shallots during the day of the full moon in October. That is still a good 3 weeks away. Maybe I will plant 1/2 now and 1/2 then and see what happens.

I plant garlic and onion seed mid-october as well. Garlic needs cool conditions to trigger it to start growing, so spending indian summer in the ground isn't going to do much for them (it can't hurt though).

You can give them a good kick-start by putting them in the fridge for a few weeks before planting. For 'northern' types (porcelain, rocombole, silverskin, purple stripe) that speeds up emergence and ripening (before it gets too hot) and increases bulb size about 50% for me. Asiatic, turbin, artichoke and creole don't seem to benefit as they readily emerge after planting.

Hey, can any of you offer any advice or insight? I am near New England coast @ Mass./NH border. I had a mediocre garden this year due, I think, to the fact that had crappy soil and didn't get started early enough.

As a result, I think I might have tried too hard not to be late with some garlic. On a whim, I broke up a head of garlic I bought in a grocery store and planted some cloves as per instructions (3" deep, 6-9" apart in rows, etc.). But I planted them the last few days of August. I am worried it was too early and they won't come out well. There are amazing scapes. Every plant has at least two scapes, some six+ inches high. Anybody got any advice? I obviously planted a month or so too early. Will they be OK next spring/summer? Should I replant new cloves in early October? Is it advisable to cut the scapes back to, say, 1-2"? Any advice or insight is appreciated.

ildivo, do you mean scapes or new topgrowth? I would be amazed if you see scapes that fast. "Scapes" for me occur the next spring about three or four weeks before the garlic needs harvest.
Anyway, here in zone 6A I plant at the end of Sept. and have great luck. Last year I was very late (to me) I got the cloves in about the 20th of Oct. and had a crappy stand. This fall I also tilled about 3" of freshly screened compost in with the soil, so next year the garlic should be wunderbar!
hortster

My first year harvesting, I harvested WAY too late and most of the wrappers were gone. As such, many cloves stayed in the ground. These were quite large in the second year.

Last year, I planted some garlic at the end of Sept. I planted again at the mid-end of Oct and found the better growth/size on the Sept planted cloves.

So this year, I planted in Sept and will plant a few in the next week, only delayed because I received the order a few weeks ago - they are in the fridge now.

I planted garlic seeds in August, because I was thinking that's when Mother Nature would have done it, and they have not yet sprouted...thinking those need the cold to get going.

Getting our first real rain storm of the season and we have over 1/2" so far. Great timing, thanks to the powers that be!

hortster: "ildivo, do you mean scapes or new topgrowth? I would be amazed if you see scapes that fast. "Scapes" for me occur the next spring about three or four weeks before the garlic needs harvest."

I don't honestly know. There are no "flowers". I took garlic I bought in the store. My guess it that it is "common garlic". About 5 weeks ago I planted the cloves about 3" deep and 6"+ inches apart. Now, nearly every clove has two or three green scallion or spike-like growths coming up through the soil from the clove. Some are several inches high. Some of the stuff I've read indicates that I should cut the growth back at around the time of the first frost to encourage bulb growth. The stalks themselves make good salad stuff I guess (if what is read is right).

I'll try to remember to post what happens. Any other thoughts would be appreciated. You all might find this link of interest:

http://www.naturalhub.com/grow_vegetable_type_garlic.htm