Digging beside you is imitation plus opportunity
A dog who digs in every bed you touch is often doing something almost flattering: you are digging, the soil is freshly turned and full of interesting smells, and joining in is the most natural social response she has. Freshly worked earth is also easier and more rewarding to dig than the hard, untouched corners of the garden, so your beds will always outcompete the rest of the plot until you change the economics. Telling her off for digging in the bed she watched you open up makes little sense to her. The training therefore splits into two clear lessons: digging is wonderful — in exactly one place — and the rest of gardening time has its own settled job.
Build a digging pit she would choose herself
Pick a corner in partial shade and make it genuinely attractive: loosen the soil deeply or fill a low box with a sand-and-soil mix, then bury toys and a few treats just under the surface while she watches. Bring her to it with a cue, encourage the first scrabbles, and praise digging there with real enthusiasm — this is the one place in the garden where excavation earns a party. Re-bury items regularly, especially before gardening sessions, so the pit stays the freshest, most profitable soil she knows. Dogs who dig to cool down may also need a shady resting spot with water nearby; a pit in full sun will lose to your shaded beds on a hot afternoon no matter how many toys it hides.
Set up her station for the non-digging stretches
Even a dog with a great pit will not dig for an entire gardening session, so she needs a second job: a mat or raised bed in the shade within sight of you, on a long line or tether attached to something solid if the garden is not secure, with a chew and water. Settle her there between pit visits, and reward the settled picture as you work — a treat delivered on a pass-by, without turning it into a fuss. Work in blocks: twenty minutes of gardening while she rotates between pit and station is a fair early ask; marathon weeding sessions with a young, bored dog loose in the plot are how beds get landscaped by paw.
Correct the bed-digging without a battle
When she starts in a bed — and she will, early on — interrupt with a neutral sound, call or lead her straight to the pit, and reward her the moment her paws work the right soil. The sequence must be boring at the bed and rewarding at the pit; any long scolding at the bed just adds excitement to the wrong location. If she returns to the beds repeatedly in one session, that is information: she is under-occupied, so end her garden time with a game or a walk rather than escalating corrections. Protect prize beds physically while training is young — a low border or mesh over fresh planting removes temptation you do not need her to resist yet.
Share the garden routine with the household
The pit rule only becomes solid if everyone who gardens with her enforces the same geography: pit yes, beds no, station for rests. If a partner lets her dig in a bed because she looks happy, the location lesson dissolves. Gardeners in the house can also split her companion time, so one person works an uninterrupted bed while the other runs her pit-and-station rotation, swapping roles next session. Noting that rotation in KinsLe Care Teams — who had garden duty with her, and confirming the session was completed — keeps her digging education consistent across the whole household's gardening, not just yours.