The right time to plant garlic is in the fall. So leave them in the ground over winter. When the flower stems (scapes) appear, snip them off and eat them. The bulb will have more energy for growth that way. Harvest time in our zone is July, when the leaves start to yellow.

If it is from the grocery store it may be (probably is) a softneck variety of garlic. Those don't have scapes, I don't think. Read up on softneck garlic, or ask your question over in the garlic forum. They are more likely to be able to help out. It is true that garlic is normally planted in the fall. But I don't know what is likely to happen since you planted in the summer. Also, I believe the softnecks are less hardy than hardnecks, so they may die over the winter in your zone.

Where's the garlic forum? I don't see one. Garlic winters over fine in the cold northeast. I've planted supermarket garlic. It has scapes. I guess some do not. However, the bulbs you grow from them are smaller than the kind sold for garden planting.

The onion and garlic forum is called Alliums. It is linked directly from this forum in the list of Related Forums on the front page of this forum.

Most soft neck varieties have been bred for minimal scapes production but some hard neck varieties are sometimes available in grocery stores.

Dave

The real question is: should the OP replant in the Fall or not. AFAIK, supermarket garlic comes from Gilroy, CA, Zone 9. Not sure a two feet garlic plant, of the type that thrives in Zone 9, will take a canadian winter. Either way, first available harvest is July 2014. There is still time in 2013 for bunching onions of course, and there is always time to google "growing xxx in the home garden" before embarking in any planting.

Be safe. Replant some in October. Let us know what happens to this year's planting. Plants that I leave in the ground for a second winter (I remove the scapes each year) always give me 4 to 6 big bulbs in July. I like to leave the biggest plants for a second winter...what a harvest!

Googling it will say you can plant it in early spring as soon as the ground can be worked, but fall planting is recommended.

"Garlic can be planted in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked, but fall planting is recommended for most gardeners. Plant in the fall and you'll find that your bulbs are bigger and more flavorful when you harvest the next summer."

Not a lot of indication of what zones this spring planting might not work for. I found garlic very confusing to research.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.almanac.com/plant/garlic

But for Canada (the OP location) things are clear. Plant in Fall, period.

I planted garlic in the Spring about 3 years ago. Major fail. Then I planted garlic two times so far in the Fall. The scapes were awesome to munch on. The garlics I planted were from local grocery stores, and some from Costco. They all had scapes.

I'm in zone 5, in Ontario. I plant the first week of October. I would not just leave your spring planted garlic in the ground. When 1/3 to 1/2 of the leaves have started to turn brown, dig it up and let it cure. You probably won't get full sized bulbs, but it will still be edible garlic.

I bought my initial planting stock about 5 years ago from a little organic grocery store that was selling "locally grown garlic." I figured if someone else was growing it locally, it would probably grow for me as well. That was the last time I ever bought garlic. Each year I plant in October, harvest in late July and then plant the biggest cloves back again in October. It is some variety of hardneck and we get lots of lovely scapes each spring.