Seedlings are very young plants so they should be protected. It is very hard when you have a big garden and a lot of them. Animals and some vermins and very likely to eat them and to destroy your work so we should protect it. Look at the idea that I found on the Internet! It is about using plastic forks. You just put them between seedlings. Have anyone tried this method? I am not sure if it will work, because when it's windy it can be destroyed. Tell me what do you think!
I have been picking up regular forks at thrift stores and using them in pots and in ground planting to keep squirrels away. Not as cheap as plastic but they are more stable when critters are wandering around the bed.
If you can't grow your own plastic forks (thanks, Papaw-John) you can also use rose trimmings. I have placed thorny rose trimmings around seedlings, then removed the trimmings when the seedlings were large enough to fend for themselves. Of course, having thorny stems lying about makes for interesting weeding . . . .
