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Maybe, maybe not, it depends on what kinds of wildlife are common in your location and what their natural hunting and nesting habits are. If you have digging, rooting, tunneling and burrowing species of animals there then smelling and digging down 8 to 10 inches is nothing to those varied species that are equipped and might customarily have tunnels and warrens found 2 to 5 feet or more below the surface. Like rabbits or armadillos just for example, although there are many others.
I think you should do what is most feasible, easy and comfortable for you and your own physical capabilities and experiment with it. Although burying kitchen scraps won't be as effective for the soil as composting the scraps would be there is no harm in trying it to start with and be observant about what kinds of animals become attracted to your soil patch and the kitchen scraps and see what they do with it.
Do you have squirrels or crows in your neighbourhood? If you do then keep in mind that they and many other kinds of birds and animals and even certain insects are always watching your every single move when you're working outdoors in your yard. If you are doing some digging in the ground the moment they see you pack up and walk away from there and go indoors they will come investigate and dig down to see if you buried some yummy goodies for them to take. And that includes them taking any yummy juicy earthworms that you might put in the ground to condition the soil. If you have put goodies there for them they will ALL spread the word through bush telegraph to let all other species know that here is a wonderful, kind, loving and generous human who buries goodies for them to find. It's the truth.
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Rabbits and chipmunks may burrow 8-10 inches but they're unlikely to be interested in eating moldy kitchen scraps. Squirrels, skunks and racoons might be interested but they won't dig as deep. I've buried small dead animals (ex mice, birds) about 8-10 inches deep below some of my vegetables and nothing dug them up. That's your organic blood and bone meal right there.
What I've found with the squirrels is that they're not necessarily watch you as you bury things, but they can tell when soil has been freshly disturbed, and will suspect that it was a rival squirrel that buried some nuts in there so they'll dig it up. That's why when I transplant tender seedlings, I put good sized rocks around them that are too heavy for the squirrels to move and dig into, such as with lettuce. It's not that the squirrels have any interest in eating your lettuce, they just think there's peanuts under them and will shred up the lettuce seedling with their claws as they dig under them.
The robins will spy on you, although they also happen to know that freshly dug soil will more likely have various bugs, worms and grubs crawling out of it.
Some kitchen scraps will be of less or greater interest to animals like rats. I don't think anything's interested in wilted lettuce, other than slugs, which won't dig into your soil. But they might dig if they detect eggshells, banana peels or melon rinds.
I knew a woman many, many years ago who used to take the coffee grinds, veggie and fruit peelings, eggshells, etc., and put them directly into the soil in her garden beds. She would turn over a shovel full of soil and just toss in the bits and cover them with the upturned soil. Do you or anyone else you know do this? Is it advisable? I do not want to draw roaches and rats to my garden beds.
I've heard it's fine to use coffee grounds...a good thing. They're already broken down to a large degree. I'd think the veggie & fruit peelings & such would attract pests and critters. They need to be composted.
Maybe, maybe not, it depends on what kinds of wildlife are common in your location and what their natural hunting and nesting habits are. If you have digging, rooting, tunneling and burrowing species of animals there then smelling and digging down 8 to 10 inches is nothing to those varied species that are equipped and might customarily have tunnels and warrens found 2 to 5 feet or more below the surface. Like rabbits or armadillos just for example, although there are many others.
I think you should do what is most feasible, easy and comfortable for you and your own physical capabilities and experiment with it. Although burying kitchen scraps won't be as effective for the soil as composting the scraps would be there is no harm in trying it to start with and be observant about what kinds of animals become attracted to your soil patch and the kitchen scraps and see what they do with it.
Do you have squirrels or crows in your neighbourhood? If you do then keep in mind that they and many other kinds of birds and animals and even certain insects are always watching your every single move when you're working outdoors in your yard. If you are doing some digging in the ground the moment they see you pack up and walk away from there and go indoors they will come investigate and dig down to see if you buried some yummy goodies for them to take. And that includes them taking any yummy juicy earthworms that you might put in the ground to condition the soil. If you have put goodies there for them they will ALL spread the word through bush telegraph to let all other species know that here is a wonderful, kind, loving and generous human who buries goodies for them to find. It's the truth.
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Good advice. We do have plenty of rats with hairdo's (squirrels), and although I do not see them often, we have opossums. I have never actually seen one, but I know from smell that there are skunks in the area, too. We have big Coopers Hawks as well. I will have to get stuck in and see what happens. As much of a headache as any of those animals could be, the two things I dread MOST are roaches and rats. {{{SHIVER}}}
Ive been doing that in my raised beds for years. It has never attracted any critters...its buried. It also is the easiest way to compost and does a terrific job at improving your soil with little effort on your part.
^^^ Yes, I have watched this video and a number of other videos on YouTube addressing this practise, and all are very positive. As I mentioned earlier, too, the lady I knew many, many years ago habitually buried scraps in her beds. She also had a composter in the backyard. Anytime I came too close to the composter, I could feel heat coming from it which always intrigued me. I am going to at least give it a try. If critters start digging up the scraps, then I will go back to bagged compost from the garden centre.
^^^ Yes, I have watched this video and a number of other videos on YouTube addressing this practise, and all are very positive. As I mentioned earlier, too, the lady I knew many, many years ago habitually buried scraps in her beds. She also had a composter in the backyard. Anytime I came too close to the composter, I could feel heat coming from it which always intrigued me. I am going to at least give it a try. If critters start digging up the scraps, then I will go back to bagged compost from the garden centre.
For our small (4' x 8') garden bagged compost may be best to get instead of composting. Being it is only two of use, we may not have enough scraps to compost.
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It's the truth.
