Cardboard

I've just taken up some cardboard. It was covering a rough area near some peas I have planted and I was going to grow pumpkins on top of it. But some of the peas have had their stems severed and the cardboard looked like a possible area that rats (my No.1 best friend) might take cover under. I've cleared as much as I can round the peas hoping they will go and find some extra thick grass elsewhere to chew through. The peas are just starting to get pods on them. They once chewed through a whole row of climbing french beans that was just coming in to production - and I have a row of just such not that far from the peas.