I added lots of compost before planting my largest cloves last Fall. I mulch the garlic bed with about 2" of straw to insulate it from temperature swings during the colder months.
I got nice big heads this year except for the 4 plants that the chickens dug up and I replanted in the Spring. They were very much smaller than the others so obviously a physical disturbance to the rooted bulbs makes a big difference. Maybe if your garlic bed was not heavily mulched, the bulbs were moved up and down in the soil by the freeze/thaw cycles that you would have in CT.
If your nutrient levels were really high, it could lead to stunted growth or even be toxic in some cases . If you used granular fertilizer in the past then some of it may have still been breaking down.
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