Gotta ask, where are you, what is your zone? I planted garlic last fall but don't plan on harvest until (earliest) late May or more likely June. Have no idea why your foliage would be turning brown in spring. Did you apply heavy fertilizer several times or some kind of garden pre-emergent weed control? Kinda weird. I fertilize my garlic once with a heavy dose of compost when planting in the fall. No chemical ferts. Nothing ever again. Mine is looking sweet. Hope yours recovers.
hortster

Not only do we need to know your location, but what type garlic it is too. I live in Zone 9B, Central Florida. I had varities ready at this time last year (Creoles & Inchelium Red). Others, like Siberian, were ready around the last week of April.

This winter was one of our coldest winters on record for here and many things seem delayed. My blueberries bloomed a month late. Lots of my garlic resprouted from tiny cloves and ripped the stalks apart, even though they had not formed a bulb yet. That might be my fault though. I planted earlier last fall thinking I would get bigger bulbs, but I think I screwed up the timing.

Are all your garlic leaves brown or just the one? If it's just the one, I think something ate the root. If all the garlic is dying down this early and you live up north, there may be a problem.
As the others said, more info is needed.

I live in southern NC we had a pretty warm winter till Jan when it got real cold, so they had sprouted in December. I have used a 18-18-21 fertilizer a few times since it has gotten warm. Most of the bottom leaves are brown but the top leaves are still green, they are soft steam that I got from the local farmers market. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Once about 2/3s of the leaves are yellow/brown, the bulb is not going to get any bigger, so you might as well dig them. If they have formed bulbs with cloves, just eat them. If they just swelled (formed rounds) with no cloves, hang them to cure and replant them in the fall for next year's crop, or eat them.

TomNJ