Can I bury Romex in the ground?

No, you cannot bury standard Romex, which is Type NM-B or NMC-B non-metallic sheathed cable, directly in the ground under any circumstances. The NEC explicitly prohibits NM-B cable in wet, damp, or underground locations because its outer paper-wrapped jacket and internal paper filler will absorb moisture, degrade, and create a shock and fire hazard. It is only rated for dry interior locations. If you need to run power underground, you have two code-compliant options. The first is UF-B, Underground Feeder cable, which looks similar to Romex but has solid vinyl jacketing around each conductor and is rated for direct burial, typically at 24 inches deep for a 120V residential circuit with GFCI protection, or 12 inches if protected by conduit. The second and more common method is to run individual THWN-2 rated conductors inside PVC conduit, Schedule 40 or 80, buried at 18 inches deep for most residential branch circuits. You must also use wet-rated wire, not NM-B, inside the conduit because underground conduit is considered a wet location. Using regular Romex underground will fail inspection, void insurance, corrode quickly, and can lead to dangerous ground faults.