I've just harvested four heads of garlic. These heads were an experiment, as I planted them from cloves taken from store-bought garlic. (The garlic I've grown before came from the Botanical Garden plant sales.) The garlic you see at the supermarket is usually a softneck variety called silverskin. Apparently silverskin matures more quickly than the other varieties I've had, as my other plants are nowhere near ready to harvest (and of course that follows as commercial growers would want a plant that matured rapidly). You may be able to tell from the photos, but these heads have actually started to split apart, which means they won't keep well. Not an issue for us as we go through garlic quickly. I probably should have harvested them a couple of weeks ago, but not being familiar with this variety that seemed absurdly early.
Garlic is very easy to grow. All you do is plant single cloves about two inches deep and six inches apart in the fall, and sit back and let them grow. They should be ready for harvest the following summer. The tricky part is deciding when the heads are mature. The primary visual indicator is when the tops start to yellow and die back, but that's not the only factor; size and quality of the outer skin are also important. I love growing garlic because it's one of those incredibly easy-care plants, and the rewards are great. It doesn't take up a lot of space, but we'd have to have a couple of beds full of garlic to keep us stocked for any length of time. We probably go through 1.5 - 2 heads a week, so perhaps 100 heads a year, and I'm only planting about a dozen at a time!
The other nice thing about growing your own garlic is that you can get varieties you can't buy at the store. There are two types of garlic: softneck and hardneck. Softneck keeps better and usually has many cloves per head (this is the kind commonly seen at grocery stores); hardneck is considered by some to have superior flavor and doesn't keep as well. It is important to get varieties well-suited for your climate and growing conditions.
What are your experiences with growing garlic?
We used a head of garlic last night for garlic shrimp bruschetta, and some tomato-basil bruschetta. The garlic was quite hot when tasted raw, but cooked up mild.