Hi,
I know this might be trying to go against a dog's nature..... but, our 1yr Springer Spaniel has a habit of digging up the garden. This involves several holes on the lawn, but (more annoyingly to my OH) he goes into the borders and flower beds and digs everything up. He loves pulling up plants and subsequently we have no flowers, plants or anything left.
I've started growing my own fruit, veg and herbs, and I'm a little worried he'll start on them next!!
Does anyone have any tips on stopping a dog digging?! Please?!
Thanks!

Having owned terriers in the past I have a little experience in this area :-)  The only thing that was successful for me was to lay down the ground (appologies for pun :-)) rules from the outset by always accompanying them into the garden and constantly stopping them the moment they start.  It does work, at least it has for me, but it does take a lot of effort I'm afraid.  You have to be completely consistant. The only other alternative is to secure them out of the area.

Yeh thats what we're having to do at the minute, which is a shame, as I like leaving the back door open and letting him have the run of the garden (well, I did anyway!).

In my experience you can break the habit and enjoy being able to allow free access again you but it is very hard in the beginning.  A bit like housetraining :-)

Mine only stopped as she got older, then she picked a few spots where she still digs (she is 4 :-o). Given that these were Bernese sized holes the place resembled the Somme when it rained. No help I'm afraid but you are not alone :-)

I haqve had to resort to dividing my garden in two. One area the dogs can play, run and dig the other area is strictly by invitation only :)

My garden is divided into two also. Problem is the fence dividing it is so high (and no gate) that I cannot get into it either. OH is a bit more agile than me and climbs over the fence. The dogs and me are confined to the patio.

I now have 2 areas. The veg garden and the miniature golf course ;-) The dogs don't have access to the veg garden, but you can guess why I have a golf course in my back garden :-D My front garden is dog free. The only time they are in the front is when they are on leads and either going for a walk or going to the car.

Agree with Harley we have distinct areas, dog and non dog fenced where we want them not to go.
They have avoided the veggie bit having planted strong smelling stuff like onions and chives. The top lawn is partaially excavated and covered with plant pots, tyhe bottom lawn is slabed and plant pots so no problems there. We just made them an area to play and its fine.

We to have seperate area for the dogs as both young so they are confined to patio area,they go into garden only when we are out there. They spent the day at my parents a little while ago and between them managed to destroy part of their neat lawn,i was not very popular.

When the grandkids come my OH goes out and fills in the worse bits in case the dogs bury a stray grandchild!!
But they all know that its the dogs home and I cannot be doing with a pristine lawn, that went out with the pristine house after the first week. Ive taken to wearing a lot of black as well as mud doesn't show so much!!
You cant get mud coloured T's very well so i look like one of those black widow ladies in greece ect.. wonder if they all have dogs at home?

The veg garden and the miniature golf course

LOL! Ours is the same - we get lots of rabbits in our garden and the dogs think its great fun to make the holes even bigger!! Our Malamute is obsessed with digging and has dug an impressively huge hole in one of the beds...when we let her out in the morning the first thing she does is run to the hole to check if any overnight action has taken place !!

I have 3 ESS, and the youngest has the same habit as yours.  Luckily our garden is just lawn with no flowers :-)

Fence off the borders and areas you want kept nice.  The rest where dog will be allowed put down shingle, gravel, slabs or concrete, and provide toys for bored dog ;) .

This will save your blood pressure, as the dog is doing what comes naturally and you can't watch him 24/7 and don't want to be doing nothing but nagging him all the time.

This reminds me of when my dog was a pup.  I had spent a morning planting up 7 large pots.  I looked out the window a while later to survey my handiwork and pup was leaping about the garden with a plant in her mouth.  She'd yanked most of the plants out of the pots and nipped the stems off a small fusia plant.  She also liked digging holes in the lawn.  The plant game she grew out of just as she grew out of pulling the washing off the line and leaping about the garden with it. The digging holes we had to tell her off and she eventually got the message.  She's 4 now (amazingly) and she's a little goody two shoes.  Well, almost and my tolerance levels have improved (luckily).

I have a lovely picture of my 9 week old cocker sat in one plant pot biting the heads off my tulips in other pots, he looked so pleased with himself!

LOL have just been through this.  Wren thought it was great to pull out the pansies that I had just planted earlier in the year.  We also had much hole digging especially when her sister came to stay.  In the end we started putting curry powder and pepper in the holes she was making and that seemed to stop it.

It seems to be something that most young dogs do. All of mine have done it, I've spent years and years filling in holes and putting grass seed done. My youngest is 3 now and I just realised there have been no holes this year :-) So...tips to stop your dog digging...wait for a year :-)

Similar to you all 3 newfies play havoc with the garden  craters the size of a grave , i have found fox oil helps you can get it at agricultural mechants a few drops when you fill in the hole or around plants seems to stop them  , it also keeps out the foxes  , as that was it original use .