diff --git a/garden-service/src/vcs/git.ts b/garden-service/src/vcs/git.ts
index 5b74b22f75..1fb0ddb7e1 100644
--- a/garden-service/src/vcs/git.ts
+++ b/garden-service/src/vcs/git.ts
@@ -126,7 +126,12 @@ export class GitHandler extends VcsHandler {
         // If we can't compute the hash, i.e. the file is gone, we filter it out below
         let hash = ""
         try {
-          hash = await this.hashObject(resolvedPath) || ""
+          // "git ls-files" returns a symlink even if it points to a directory.
+          // We filter symlinked directories out, since hashObject() will fail to
+          // process them.
+          if (!(await stat(resolvedPath)).isDirectory()) {
+            hash = await this.hashObject(resolvedPath) || ""
+          }
         } catch (err) {
           // 128 = File no longer exists
           if (err.code !== 128 && err.code !== "ENOENT") {
diff --git a/garden-service/test/unit/src/vcs/git.ts b/garden-service/test/unit/src/vcs/git.ts
index 61ea4d5c2f..5adf59529b 100644
--- a/garden-service/test/unit/src/vcs/git.ts
+++ b/garden-service/test/unit/src/vcs/git.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { expect } from "chai"
 import * as tmp from "tmp-promise"
-import { createFile, writeFile, realpath, mkdir, remove } from "fs-extra"
+import { createFile, writeFile, realpath, mkdir, remove, symlink } from "fs-extra"
 import { join, resolve } from "path"
 
 import { expectError } from "../../../helpers"
@@ -231,6 +231,21 @@ describe("GitHandler", () => {
 
       expect(files).to.eql([])
     })
+
+    it("should exclude an untracked symlink to a directory", async () => {
+      const tmpDir2 = await tmp.dir({ unsafeCleanup: true })
+      const tmpPathB = await realpath(tmpDir2.path)
+
+      const name = "a-symlink-to-a-directory"
+      const path = resolve(tmpPath, name)
+
+      await symlink(tmpPathB, path)
+
+      const files = (await handler.getFiles(tmpPath, undefined, []))
+        .filter(f => !f.path.includes(ignoreFileName))
+
+      expect(files).to.eql([])
+    })
   })
 
   describe("hashObject", () => {