Sounds like cutworm damage.

Annette

rabbits? Do you have a fence?
I've also had mice chew stuff too.

The garden is a container garden. I do have a fence. I've never seen any mice. The cuts are fairly clean, almost like it was cut by a knife. I've been reading up on cutworms and have learned that they feed at night which would explain why I haven't seen anything during the daytime cutting off the plants, so that seems right now as the most likely culprit. I've never had this problem in the past so I wonder if some of the plants that I planted in the large container came with soil that was contaminated with cutworms.

How tall are the containers? Is it just the plants near the edge that are cut?

It could also just be birds.

I had three of my pole beans snipped off in a row of 12. The top 4 " of a 10-12" plant, just laying on the ground. It was a one time occurrence. I am pretty sure it was a mischievous bird.