Issue with Garlic

I have grown Garlic for quite a few years and usually grow a few in pots in the greenhouse for an early crop. This year’s was quite good and I harvested it about 3 weeks ago.
Other ( hard neck) I planted last October outside. It is looking great, scrapes got pulled about 2 weeks ago so nearly time to harvest. The top growth is abundant but noticed the necks of the garlic are quite thick. I had a poke about in the soil to see how the bulbs are doing and they are pretty small in comparison to the growth above ground. I am wondering when I do harvest the bulbs if they will store ok or be like onions with thick necks that don’t store well. The only reason I can think of that the crop is a bit odd is the ground was heavily manured last spring ( not this spring) so it is pretty rich perhaps in comparison to other areas. Should I maybe hold of harvesting until say the end of July and hope the bulbs grow bigger?

 

Excessive top growth and undersize bulbs is a symptom of too much nitrogen. They wont store well.

 

I'm thinking that they have produced single bulbs.
I leave garlic until the tops are dying and I'm thinking that will be a while with mine due to the very cold spring and non existent summer.

 

I considered that, but hailbopp is located in Scotland and planted in October, so assumed it was likely to have been cold long enough to divide into cloves, rather than swelling into a single 'round', leaving the heavy manuring as the most likely cause.

But just in case, here's images of a small bulb (right) and an undivided round (left) for @hailbopp to confirm.

I've selected a bulb with bulbils forming in the neck in case that's the reason for the thick necks.

 

Thank you Pete and Scrungee.I have not lifted any but can see that the bulbs have split as they should have done....Hell, it was about -17oc here in February, so plenty cold enough. I did not know that rich ground could cause issues to garlic. I thought the bulbs would be whoppers judging by the top growth, wrong! Ouch, could my onions be in for trouble too as where they are had similar amounts of manure last year. I did see what I thought was rather good, health looking foliage when I last noticed the patch where onions are growing.I’ll be livid if they too are going to be rubbish

 

About a month from the scapes to harvesting, also after the first couple of lower leaves have gone yellowy brown. Some people leave one or two scapes using when they've grown straight as an additional indicator.

 

Thanks Scrungee. I usually leave lifting until 4 leaves have died down to give plenty of covers for the bulbs. They are very nearly at this stage so will just have to put up with what I thought was going to be a great crop. If the worst comes to the worst and the bulbs don’t store ( usually fine until well into the New Year and beyond) I will freeze the bulbs. Not quite as nice but fine for most things. I am just thankful I have the ones grown in the greenhouse to use as “ seed” for next season if the others start to rot.

 

It would be interesting if you could post images of the crop after lifting them (with something for scale).

 

Will do. I just noticed today the garlic that are at the end of the rows are not so thick necked. This again would point to too much manure for them as you always get more manure away from the edges of the bed. Going to plant over wintering Cauliflower when the garlic is harvested. Hopefully they will appreciate it more!
Maybe by some miracle the bulbs will put on a huge spurt between now and harvest time.....I can dream. I’ll lift them around 12th July.

 

Maybe I was a bit worried ( not that much as isn’t exactly life threatening!) for nothing as just lifted most of the crop.May god the bulbs have grown enormously since I last had a wee look. It has been wet and then very very hot so presume that is the reason.
Still don’t know if the thicker than normal necks on some will mean they don’t store well. Will have to wait and see. The bulbs on the thick necks are not much bigger than those with what I call normal size. The thin necks are above the thick in the photo. £1 for scale. Bulbs are in a really nice condition so hoping storage will not be an issue. From the size of the bulbs if they store ok then I will again manure heavily the bed for next season’s crop.All are hard neck variety.