"Fred" wrote
I have some garlic growing but some of the stems have been bent either
by the wind or an animal. I notice the plat appears to be growing
cloves at the point where the stem has been bent. Has anyone noticed
this before? Why does it happen? What should I do? Is the plant
damaged: do I need to harvest it now, or will it continue to grow?

We harvested our Garlic about 4 weeks ago. If you planted yours at the
correct time in Sept/Oct then it should be ready by now with all the leaves
falling over and going brown. If you leave it too long, for all the leaves
to turn brown, the head will start to open out and the individual cloves
start to grow again, then it is of little use and certainly won't keep.
That said some varieties of Garlic do produce a flower spike that turns into
small cloves, these will grow into a garlic head in a couple of years or so
if planted, with luck.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London