You're not one of those Lost Boys are you?
In all seriousness...
I grew garlic this year for the first time and it was a great experience. I would definitely recommend it!
In the north, most folks plant in mid-October. The garlic gets a good underground start before hard-freeze and then resumes in the Spring. Generally, its ready to harvest beginning in late June/early July. In Santa Clara, I'd imagine you could plant much later - perhaps as late as January - but you'll have to do some research on that.
There are two main divisions of garlic - rocambole (hardneck) and silverskin (softneck). Rocambole is preferred by many for taste, but (I'm told) it doesn't keep for more than about six months. Silverskin is the mainstay of the California garlic industry and is the garlic you typically see braided. I'm not sure you can grow good rocambole in California, but you can definitely grown good softneck. One benefit is that well-grown softneck can
last nearly a year.
If you really want to bone up on garlic, get the book: "Growing Great Garlic: The Definitive Guide for Organic Gardeners and Small Farmers" by Ron Engeland. It's definitive and will tell you everything you need to know to get started. I believe Ron is the proprietor of Filaree Farm. If you haven't come across their website already, you will. It seems like they pioneered hand-crafted gourmet garlic in this country and they continue to be a leading provider of seed garlic.