I'm in the US, and have a run of UF cable serving floodlights along my driveway. It leaves the garage in a conduit, and reappears at each of 3 locations where a junction box about 12" above ground level connects the incoming line, one running up the tree to a light fixture, and the outgoing line. (I believe it's just directly buried once it leaves the vicinity of the garage).
At the second location, both the incoming and outgoing wires were damaged right at ground level; I'd like to be able to reconnect them (I've disconnected the run at the first location temporarily).
Is there a safe (and ideally, code compliant) way to splice UF at or below ground level? I have enough slack to connect them, but not much to spare.
Replacing the run is not feasible, as it crosses under a driveway.