Young garlic plants emerging from soil in spring — can you plant garlic in spring

Can You Plant Garlic in Spring? (What to Expect and How to Do It Right)

June 17 2026, by Earthwise Garlic, 3 min reading time

Yes, you can plant garlic in spring and still get a harvest. But spring planting comes with real tradeoffs most gardeners don't know about. Here's what to expect and the one step you can't skip.

Yes, you can plant garlic in spring. You will get a harvest. But there are real tradeoffs you should know about before you decide whether it's worth doing or whether you'd rather wait and get it right in fall.

Here's what actually happens when you plant in spring, how to give yourself the best shot at decent bulbs, and when spring planting makes sense.

Why Fall Is Better

Garlic is wired for a fall-to-summer growth cycle. You plant in fall, the cloves root through autumn, go dormant over winter, and push hard in spring when temperatures rise. That full season gives the plant time to build the root system and leaf mass it needs to form a large, well-divided bulb by summer.

Spring planting cuts that timeline significantly. You're asking the plant to do in three or four months what it normally does in eight or nine. The result is usually smaller bulbs and, in some cases, rounds instead of divided cloves.

The Vernalization Problem

Garlic needs a period of cold to trigger bulb formation. Without it, the plant grows leaves and roots but stays as a single undivided round underground rather than splitting into the cloves you're expecting.

When you plant in fall, the ground handles this naturally. When you plant in spring, you have to simulate it yourself by refrigerating the seed garlic before planting.

Put your unbroken bulbs in a paper or mesh bag and refrigerate them at 35 to 40 degrees for 4 to 8 weeks before your planting date. Keep them away from apples and bananas, which release ethylene gas and can trigger early sprouting. Do not use sealed plastic bags — you need airflow to prevent mold.

Skipping this step is the most common reason spring-planted garlic fails to form proper bulbs.

What to Expect From Spring-Planted Garlic

Even with refrigeration and good technique, spring-planted garlic typically produces smaller bulbs than fall-planted garlic. That's just the reality of a shorter season. You may also get a higher percentage of rounds, especially with hardneck varieties that have higher vernalization requirements.

Softneck varieties — Inchelium Red and Lorz Italian are the ones we grow — handle spring planting better than hardnecks. If you're going to try it, softnecks give you a better shot at a real harvest.

Tips for the Best Results

Plant as early as the ground can be worked. Every extra week matters when you're already behind. In most of the country that means late February through March, as soon as the soil isn't frozen solid.

Use the largest cloves you have. Big cloves carry more stored energy, which gives the plant a stronger start in a compressed season. This is always true with garlic, but it matters even more in spring.

Plant at normal depth — 2 inches, pointed end up, 6 inches apart. Don't try to rush the plant by planting shallow.

Mulch well after planting. A 3 to 4 inch layer of straw helps moderate soil temperature and retain moisture through the warmer months ahead.

Water consistently. Spring-planted garlic is growing through warming weather rather than the cool, moist conditions of fall and early spring. Dry spells stress the plant at exactly the wrong time.

When Spring Planting Makes Sense

If you missed your fall window and want any harvest at all, spring planting is worth doing. A smaller bulb is still a bulb, and rounds are still edible.

It also makes sense if you're experimenting with a new variety and just want to see how it grows in your soil before committing to a full fall planting.

What it doesn't replace is a well-timed fall planting with quality seed. If your goal is full, dense bulbs for eating or replanting, fall is the only way to reliably get there.

Order Seed Garlic for Fall

We ship seed garlic from our farm in Coburg, Oregon each September, timed for fall planting across most of the country. If you're reading this in spring and want to get it right next season, now is a good time to get your order in before we sell out.

We grow six varieties — Music, Georgian Fire, Ukrainian Red, Donostia Red, Inchelium Red, and Lorz Italian — all pesticide-free from ODA-inspected seed stock. Browse varieties and pricing here.