Do you know what variety it was that you grew? I found this info at the link below: The hardneck varieties do well in the cooler Canadian climates. Hardneck refers to the scape, or flower stalk, with its topset of bulbils. Hardnecks take a little more care to grow because they need to be hand planted right side up, and to have their scapes snipped off. They repay that effort with a wealth of large bulbs and a dazzling choice of robust and subtle, intriguing and delicious flavours. If you don't get an answer here, you might also try asking at The Allium Forum Sue Here is a link that might be useful: Garlic varieties

Yes, fasten some wire mesh over the top of the container and fasten it well. Sorry to hear about the theft.

I found this on the vegetable forum; Each leaf represents a wrapper around the bulb. If you lose all the wrappers- the bulb will split and start to grow stems from the cloves (bad). Is this what could be happening? Not sure why it would be happening with such small bulbs, but I'd love to believe I don't have nematodes. I also pulled a huge Inchellium with seven or eight green leaves and a split wrapper. It didn't start to grow stems but did remind me of the pictures in my first post.I'll post a pic in the gallery.

Beth, The only things I see wrong with what you did is planting too close and not having any insulaton around the boxes. please find something to keep the soil from freezing, it gets darn cold in spokane and you risk having that expensive garlic get too cold and freezing. put more leaves and whatever you can find to pack around the outside of the boxes. Hello Anniesgranny, I saw you were close to me, that's why I added my location. I'm almost done planting for the year..have 11,400 in the ground now. I'm sure to hit 14,000 when I'm done later this week.