Garlic Popping Out of Ground!

[Joan]

I followed directions for the planting of garlic cloves, 2 1/2" deep 4" apart.
That was about 3 weeks ago. On Monday we went to clear the garden and there were about 6 cloves just laying on top of the ground. Does anyone have ideas about this? Didn't look like animals dug and 2 had roots growing and attached. Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks

[GreenZone]

I dunno what causes this...soil settling? Heaving? critters? In my garden settling is my preferred explanation. In any case, I just replant 'em and hope for the best.
--Randel

[drobinson]

I have had the same thing happen to my garlic in past years. I am quite sure it is a nocturnal critter. We have armadilla here in central AR which are nocturnal and will root around in the garden at night for grubs. Or it could be a skunk, which also likes to look for grubs. It occurred worse when i put some bone meal in the garlic bulb hole. Maybe the bone smell attracts night animals. In my case, they seemed to be satisfied once they dug up a few bulbs and didn't bother to dig up any more after that. I just stuck the bulbs back in the same hole and that was that.