Any idea on why it failed? My garlic bed is raised, well drained soil, they don't like to have their feet wet too much. Other than that, just getting the spacing right (I space them about 8" apart, but you could go more if you wanted) and keeping weeds down helps. I generally don't bother watering mine, unless it gets really dry (might water them a bit in late October or November). But, my area gets a fair bit of rainfall, so your local climate will determine a lot of what you need to do.