Thanks everyone for all the helpful suggestions.
It seems that these mites like the warm and humid weather kicking in so close to harvest time. We had some thundershowers that really drenched the ground, and that new bed is all organic matter so it holds the moisture very well. Definitely to put on a long rotation. I'm still learning, may find more optimum places for garlic here.
The plants were very green without many brown leaves, and I wasn't sure they were ready to pull at all. But I saw a couple of plants went all of a sudden, pulled those a week ago and they looked like pics of 'basal plate rot' pretty pink all over the bulb and the wrappers getting gone. Then I pulled a couple yesterday and saw the wrappers coming off and rusty color around the root so I pulled the lot.
After cleanup of the worst bulbs, it's not as bad as I thought. Four or five I had to strip down to the cloves but the cloves are intact and fit to eat, although sadly I broke the wrappers taking them apart, they are so green and wet they stuck together. So I will have to try the freezing tricks.
Also cleaned four more under hot running water mainly the roots, got the damaged wrappers off and still a few around them so I have put them to cure separately, and will see how that affects the drying out. I put all the dirty wrappers etc in a bucket and filled with very hot water to kill the bugs before I compost the stuff.
Also checked and cleaned up the bulbs I pulled early - and surprised to find the cloves are still firm, the bad wrappers just peeled off and although they're split apart they seem to be curing ok and good enough to eat but not long storage. Looks like the pink was just their own colours showing through.
I still have 19 better looking bulbs of the Argentina which I hope to find some good enough for seed, I'll be cleaning them up tomorrow. The Music were mostly good, and I guess I'll be watching the Spanish Roja like a hawk, they are in the same bed as Argentina but they need another week to size up, so I hope it's a dry one.