Sasha digging holes

Sasha is almost 11 months old and started digging holes in the garden, not massive holes but enough to make a mess, she gets her nose right in there too and its destroyed in muck. I told her she was bold and smacked her once for it but that hurt me more than it did her, couldnt believe how bad I felt after it.. so I dont smack her for it now.
She knows its bold but keeps doing it, what is the attraction ? I thought she was digging for stones as she started to play with stones a couple of weeks ago and there is usually a stone at the bottom of the hole she digs.
She gets lots of attention and there is always someone here to play or just sit with her, I know she is just a pup and dogs will dig but its starting to frustrate me because she is usually a very good girl.
How should I deal with this ?
Ignore it and just keep filling in the holes ?
Fill in the holes with poo ?
Punish her with a time out in a room on her own ?
Hose or spray water when she does it ?
Anything else ?

staffies dig , its a fact , we gave up on our garden. I think if you spray her with water there's more chance she will be scared of the garden. Can you not find a little corner of your garden where she can dig without a problem. I don't understand what you mean by "bold" though ???

A small water spray gun may well do the trick, try looking for one that gardeners use you could probably get one in the pound shop.

i have a sand pit for Titan lol

I have a little spray bottle ( from the garden centre) To use when she is digging where I don't want her to be. But she loves to dig and get right in there with her paws and snout - my little angel turns from white to grey - she loves it and playswith/chews sticks and stones she finds - constant supervision is required

I think the water gun is a good idea. We use this on Suki to keep her from eating things of the ground while on walks.