True Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) and Onions have leaves which are cylindrical. Your plant has flat bladed leaves so it will be a Garlic. The smells of the 3 plants are all distinctive so a crushed leaf should confirm the id.

Could be Garlic Chives/Allium tuberosum.

I have both, onions & garlic planted & they do look quite similar. Your plant looks like a garlic coz it has flat leaves. Also, garlic leaves have a typical 'garlic' smell.. so that should confirm the guess. I am not sure about Chives though.

As floral noted, true chives have a hollow, cylindrical leave. Chives do smell like chives and garlic and onion chives smell like and taste like garlic and onions.

Your plant looks like garlic, but I'm not certain if it's a hardneck or soft neck variety. Do you know? Also, my guess is that very little has probably grown in the pot. I've grown garlic for many years, always in the garden, never in a small pot, so I'm not certain how large the bulbs would get in such a confined space or if they would even develop at all. They really do not like to be "cramped" or crowded.

Also, I don't see any garlic scapes. Scapes are tall flower stalks that curl around and around. If this is a hardneck variety, it would produce a scape before it was fully mature. Softneck garlic doesn't produce a scape but the bulbs are larger and need more room to grow and develop. If this was garlic that was sold to be cultivated in a warmer climate, it's likely softneck. Or, if you planted cloves from garlic you got at the grocery store, it was more likely than not a softneck variety.

In general, garlic is ready to harvest when the leaves start to turn yellow and wilt. All of yours look green and basically vibrant. Even if garlic bulbs are growing in the pot, the leaves are saying that it needs more time.

Garlic needs a pretty iong growing season. When grown from cloves, it's often planted in the fall and grown over the winter and harvested at the end of the following summer. Seeds can take 2-3 years to fully mature into a bulb.

How old are your plants? Did you plant seeds or cloves? When did you plant them? Do you have any idea what kind of garlic it is?

I don't think you have mature bulbs in the pot and I don't think you will get a usable, good sized bulb if you leave them in a pot that small. What you might do is carefully remove everything from the pot, tease away the dirt (you can rinse some of it away with a gentle stream of water from a hose), and see what you have there. You want to be gentle so you don't injure the root system.

If nothing significant in the way of a bulb has grown, carefully separate the plants and move them into a garden or a much larger pot.

Honestly, I've never grown garlic in a pot, but as long as the bulbs have room to develop and you meet their nutritional and water needs, there is no reason that I can think of why it wouldn't work. I grow everything else in a pot - lilacs, a hydrangea tree, roses, lemon trees, why not garlic??!!

You will want a pot that is at least a foot deep and each individual plant needs 5-6 inches between it and the next plant and the side of the pot.

If I were going to try to grow these plants in a pot, I would get a shallow plastic tub, put many, many holes in it with a nail or drill. Put in some good organic potting soil and dried manure, and replant. Garlic does need a very rich soil. Keep them watered but not soggy, and feed periodically. There are quite a number of web sites that can tell you about the specific needs of garlic.

Garlic chives have flat leaves such as those seen in the photo: I'm fairly certain that's what this is.

This post was edited by jaynine on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 22:14

That's not entirely true, Janine. Garlic chives have both flat and round hollow "leaves". The flat leaves are just that... leaves. The round, cylindrical hollow ones are actually a bloom stalk. The flat ones have a milder flavor, the round ones have a much stronger, garlicky flavor. In my clump, the round ones seem to outnumber the flat leaves and grow much taller as well.

A lot of people don't even consider the flat ones worth harvesting and use and snip only the round ones. In fact, when they are in bud, with a yellow bud on top, is when they are the most flavorful and the buds and the white blooms that open are also very flavorful and edible.

But I don't think that what she has pictured are garlic chives. I think it really is garlic. Garlic grows with that kind of elongated central stalk above the soil line - garlic chives don't. Those do look just like garlic plants.... I'm just not sure they are going to develop decent bulbs for her in that pot.

Garlic has a distinct life cycle: the plant grows, blooms and dies in one season (sort of like a gladiolus). I've never grown garlic in a pot (outside or indoors), but am guessing it would act the same as if in the garden. The OP has had this plant for nearly a year so chances are it isn't garlic.
You may be able to make a proper ID by taking it out of the pot and looking at the root system. Alliums are tough and can handle rough treatment.

This post was edited by jaynine on Fri, Nov 7, 14 at 10:23

OP lives in central Tx I believe so she may be able to grow in one season, although it can get pretty cold in some parts of Tx. I have grown garlic for many years in New England, always from garlic sets (cloves) and always planted in fall. In many places around the country, garlic is planted in the fall and harvested the following late summer if planted from cloves - you get a much larger bulb. If planted from seeds, it takes at least 2 full years to mature.

It would be helpful if she let us know the age of the plant and if she bought it in a flat/pot or planted either cloves or seeds.

It was given to me in a assortment of herbs that had already been planted from containers and minus the labels. It was planted late September 2013. I agree the pot is too small and that may have prolonged its life cycle, but still no blooms. I keep in inside if gets close to freezing. But I have never grown chives or garlic, but have grown several types of onions ( which die every season). Guess the next step is transplanting so I can see whats growing down there. Thanks everyone!

If you find that it's Garlic Chives, you can plant them a few inches deeper (in the ground--they are hardy).

Do not look like garlic chives to me - def. looks like garlic. Garlic chives do not have such a deep 'crease' down the center and are narrower, w/ rounded tips & a smaller neck. Also garlic chives have a 'cabbage-y' smell, compared to the unmistakable fragrance of true garlic leaves - which smell exactly like a crushed clove of garlic, IME.

Garlic Chives

This post was edited by carolb_w_fl on Sat, Nov 8, 14 at 12:14

Erin, if they have been growing since Sept. 2013, this is when they would have been harvested, but my guess is that there is not enough room in such a small pot for even a modest bulb to develop. There is no harm in removing them from the pot and replanting. They should continue to grow. Or, you can eat the small bulbs, although I would report into a larger pot. I just put a clump of garlic chives in the Earth Box I have on our patio in CA... I am looking for some garlic sets to put in as weli. My first effort at planting garlic in a container. But it should work.

probably true garlic. Garlic chives almost for certain would have bloomed by now. also the leaves look pretty wide for chives.