I’m not sure what the numerous leaves are – usually garlic has one stem, but many leaves that form off of that, upwards along the stalk. Sometimes multiples shoots may form if the bulb or shoots were exposed to temperatures that were too cold (around 10 degrees F or below) in early spring. If yours have cold damage, I’m not sure what that means for the harvest. In colder climates, spring planting usually yields smaller bulbs, versus fall planting, so you might not get bulbs as plump as you might expect anyway. Depending on weather and bulb variety, the harvest time may vary. In general, when the leaves of the plant are about ⅓ to ½ brown, the bulbs are usually ready. Check a bulb or two; if the cloves fill the skin, your crop is likely ready.

Your garlic may get a chill sooner than “normal” without its skin but there is no reason to think it will not grow into nice heads.

Sometimes garlic can get the same pests as onions do, such as the onion maggot, which, in larval stage, is a white tapered maggot about ¼ inch long. The adult looks sort of like a small gray housefly. Perhaps that was the pest you saw? Usually, they aren’t a serious pest of garlic, but you can discourage them by rotating crops, using row covers, and cleaning up plant debris in fall.

If by “seeds” you mean the bulbils at the top of the stem (that sort of look like mini bulbs) and often referred to as seeds, then yes, you can plant them in fall or spring. If you plant in spring, they will need to have a cold treatment first (place in a breathable bag in the fridge for a few weeks).

If you mean true seeds, you can save the true seeds, but they may not produce plants that are like the parent; the cloves or bulbils are what will be true to type. Not all garlic produces seeds, and those that do produce flowers, may not produce viable seed. If your seed heads are developing, but not mature, then you’ll need to sacrifice harvesting the bulb to let the seed head mature for seeds (which are harvested around October or so), or you can sever the seed stalk (scape) at the base of the plant and place it in water in a sunny location in the hope that it may still mature. It’s best to remove the bulbils early on from the scape (both bulbils and flowers will form at the top of the flower scape) to encourage better seed development from the flowers. The harvested seeds need a cold treatment before they are sown; you can place them in the refrigerator for a month or so over winter. When you sow the seeds in spring, it is likely that the germination rate will be very low for that first generation; successive generations improve. Also, that first round tends to produce problem plants, such as weaker or misshapen, but there’s also the possibility of some with desirable characteristics that you can go on to save further seed or cloves. Garlic is fussy, and has evolved so that it reproduces by cloves or bulbils more often than by seed, so propagating it this way may be a challenge, but could also be a fun experiment! Good luck!

It depends. If the cloves are soft and dried out, of course, they are of no value. Often garlic heads “sprout” or send up greens. Some say that the individual cloves in the head can be planted. Depending on the cloves’ condition, you might have success—but plant a few from this year’s harvest (or buy a couple of heads at a farmer’s market) to know that you will have  crop next year.

It all sounds ambitious and delicious, Reg! Thank you for sharing so many ideas.

Hardneck types of garlic usually produce a flower stalk that will produce small bulblets. These are called “topsetting” garlic varieties.  You can still eat these small bulbs!