The Cottage Smallholder

Hi, Jenni.  I haven't grown garlic, but I've a feeling that right now is the about the right time to be planting garlic bulbs.  Buy a whole head and split it up into the seperate cloves.  Don't use garlic from a greengrocer, though - better to get one from a garden centre or elsewhere for planting (so I'm told).  As you want some positive results, I suggest you follow this advice, just to avoid any disappointment with greengrocer offerings.  I'm not sure whether growing garlic indoors works - it might need the colder weather outdoors to prevent it growing all leggy.  You mighty try growing a head (ie several cloves) in a tub outside.  Maybe other Forumites who have actually grown garlic successfully can corrobrate my suggestions, or put me straight.

I grow winter salad leaves in an old crate lined with plastic sheeting (holes punched in bottom and sides for drainage) in a cold, leaky greehouse, and have had good results.  So if you have somewhere cool and reasonably accessible such as a porch, you could try some of these, as something to have a go at right now.  Just cover with a fleece or a bit of old curtain net if the temperature plummets.  Just keep an eye on them and don't let them get too dry - just nicely damp. Plenty of seeds choice available at garden centres. 

Have fun - and good luck.