The soil may not be so bad. The area may just not have been offered much that would grow well in shade. I suspect from the photos it's a mixed area, some with some hours of sun and some with hardly any. I have many areas like that, and I have filled them with liripoe. It can be had in many varieties, some large, some variegated. Some clumps, some runs. You want the clumps.
It is easy to work with. You can start with a fairly sparse setting of plants, and they will increase. You can help by dividing large clumps, just digging out part of them and replanting. It doesn't take long at all to fill an area in thickly. Drought tolerant and cold hardly in the south. And for your purposes, they take some sun or some shade. I have it where there's no sun, where there's mottled sun and where there's maybe three hours sun.
It's not particular as to soil. It will work with clay or sandy. But it does have to drain well. So if that's a problem, lightening the soil with simple amendments like sand, good compost or perlite will help. It doesn't take any maintenance. It will choke out any weeds or grass. And a patch that size, once it's filled, is an permanent source of more to plant elsewhere.
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