Growing Garlic in container: maybe too late...

Last year, we had one red onion that started to grow shoots. My boyfriend told me to put into some soil and it will grow. It was the end of the season, so most of my pots were empty. I haphazardly plunked the onion in the center of a 5 gallon container, covered it with soil and forgot about it. This year, I noticed green shoots peaking out of the soil. Since the onion is right smack in the middle of the container, there is a lot of extra space around the onion. I wanted make use of the space, so I decided to try planing some garlic. I know it is kind of late in the game, but who knows. Maybe I'll get some tiny bulbs. Let's see how it goes.

Onion shoots in the middle surrounded by 6 cloves (with lots of spilled garlic peel)

Close up of garlic clove, already growing some shoots