Yes put a deer fence around it. A fence is all that works long term. Once it's big enough it won't need the fence. But it might never get that big without a fence the first 3-4 yrs.

Ugh, I thought that might be the case. We haven't seen any deer since shortly after we moved in, and I was hoping they would stay away now that our block is more fully inhabited (we had several empty houses nearby until a few months ago). Time to go get some wire, I guess...

Put deer fencing around the whole garden. If you have rabbits those will do things like nibble garlic plants if you don't exclude them also.

I feel your pain. The same thing just happened to me. I also had reason to believe I was safe from deer for a while. Well the fencing is back up and will stay up for a long time until I thing the plants can handle a trimming. Ive done alot of research and thats the best way to go...