Conversations in My Neighborhood #1

I'm in the backyard gardening when three, young black males who actually do look slightly tougher than most of the guys cutting through the alley walk by.

Me: Hi, how are you?

Dude: Hello.

(pause)

Dude: You gardening? You do yard work all the time?

Me: Um, no. It's hard work. I try to do it as little as possible.

Dude: Oh yeah?

(I really have no idea why he asked that. Was he trying to find out if this was my profession? If I'm going to be out there a lot in the future? If this is something all white people do? Maybe he was just making conversation because I said "hi" first. He seemed somewhat perplexed about the whole gardening thing and then managed to totally confound me with his curiosity.)