Spring onion looking garlic

hi, i live in middlesbrough, i planted my garlic 2 types the same time as Montty Don, last weekend i pulled a few as the leaves are starting to brown. on pulling them they just look like giant spring onions? how has this happened, can i still eat them? what can i do to prevent this in the future, varieties i used were garlic marco and french garlic cristo .i will try to attach a photo. thanks 

Hi.  You have pulled them far too early.  They will not be ready until the summer.  I sowed mine last autumn and they will probably be ready at the end of July.  At this time of year the leaves look a bit dodgy because they have been through the winter but new leaves should be coming up.  They will be ready to harvest when all the leaves fall over. 

I grow Marco here in Edinburgh. I plant in October and lift in early June. They do look a bit pathetic as plants. Marco has a tendency to send out flower spikes, you can cut these and use them in stir-fries and salads. Keep the biggest cloves you harvest and re-plant in the Autumn. Garlic is said to aclimatize well.

As I understand, but please anyone correct me if I'm wrong, garlic needs a period of very cold weather to help the bulb divide up into cloves. 

I planted my garlic around October last year and must admit it's looking pretty dismal. I wont harvest it just yet but I'm not expecting a magnificent harvest because of the mild winter we had but as it's my first attemp at growing garlic I'll be extactic if I even if what I do get resembles a giant spring onion. 

I planted allium sativum size 1 in pots of compost (because of lead in heavy clay soil) on 28th March and the leaves are very long and falling over. I have never planted much at all and this is a first for me. It says on the packet to pant February to May so I dont think it will get a cold season. Also it says on the packet to thin to 5 inches apart. I thought many would die but the whole lot have survived. Do I have to thin them out?

See my previous line ""It says on the packet to pant..." I meant "plant" but the edit button will not work for me

Yes, you should still thin them out. If you don't the plants will be competing for food and water and will stay very small.

You can eat the thinnings.

Thank you Alina W.

Can I replant the thinings in another pot?

Last year I planted my garlic after the cold weather, in the Spring and I had excellent garlic. Admittedly I prefer to plant in the Autumn, but this thing about cold weather causing them to split is a bit of a red herring.  Cultural methods are the biggest influence.  Grow them well and they will perform well.

Erica I don't understand about thinning them to 5".  I normally plant the cloves about that distance in the first place.  If you plant in pots, each clove needs its own pot or module.

Each garlic needing its own pot very much depends upon the size of the pots you are using!  We always plant 3 cloves per tomato pot, and get very good crops.  Whether they get a frost or not depends upon the tyfpe of garlic and so when it is likely to ripen.  The leaves are good in stir fry.  Even if it does not split into cloves, the bulb is perfectly useable as garlic, when we did this one year it was exceptionally strong - may have been just the type of garlic, but be aware.

It is a good pot plant, and usually gives a good full flavoured crop.