Erm… Not just picking flowers…
- lockpicking everything (lockpicks and stealth)
- bartering their arse off (speech)
- vaulting over fences (vitality or agility? forgot but it could be both)
- KOing people (stealth)
- not sure if there is a bow available to buy, if yes, shooting arrows at dogs/cows/sheep then looting their corpses (bows, hunting)
- probably some things more I can't think from top of my head now but basically everything possible to improve there just not strength and melee as later ingame trainer post horsegetting mainstory quest is better/faster to improve those
Note that I didn't do any of it to the extreme except selling herbs till I cleaned all traders of cash. I wasn't even aware I can locpick containers there as I've won the brawling before breaking into any house.
The herbseller thing was not necessary - soon after the prologue I earned shittons of $ from bandits in quests and random encounters (selling looted stuff from them) and thievery. Ah well…
IMO developers should time this area/quest.