Gardening is the closest one can come to being present at creation
I think this is what hooks one to gardening: it is the closest one can come to being present at creation.
Doing work which has to be done over and over again helps us recognize the natural cycles of growth and decay, of birth and death, and thus become aware of the dynamic order of the universe. "Ordinary" work, as the root meaning of the term indicates, is work that is in harmony with the order we perceive in the natural environment.