Your dad’s place sounds amazing! I’m hoping to turn the non-tillable parts of my land into orchards, but progress is slow. A perennial vines trellis is on my list for this year. I’m planning to use it for grapes and hardy kiwis, but I also have perennial herbs to plant underneath as a groundcover.
The reason his garden did do well was 2 reasons. He was raised on a farm. And 2. Horses were raised on the other side of the fence. So the neighbor got rid of the horse manure over the fence and my dad rotor tilled it into the soil.