With a spot that large I would probably just plant it to grass. When my Dad needs an area covered and growing quickly he mixes rye seed in with the grass seed. The rye sprouts very fast and holds the soil and the grass sprouts up in it's own time. After sowing the seed be sure to mulch the area with straw or hay to help keep it moist. I believe, though I can't say for sure, that the rye is short lived, maybe a year or two, at which point the grass would be well established, but I'd do a little research first if you decide to go that route. Then if you want some natives you can plant them too and not have to worry about doing the whole patch at once.

Wintergreen, it is evergreen, it will grow pretty much anywhere that has an acidic soil. The entire plant is eatable, also it produces red berries in the winter months that attract wildlife. Off the top of my head botanical is spelled gaulthreia procumbens. Seeds can be found at trade winds fruit store under herbs. I have had awesome germination rates from the seeds I have purchased from them.

How about Northern Bog Violet?

Hi Martin, Sounds like you have plenty of suggestions. I must admit I am a big fan of pig face, terrible name but lovely plant. On a bike ride today I noticed that when the plant gets no water it's leaves turn a lovely shade of red. Stressed but still pretty. I collected some from a nearby park here and neglected it for about 3 weeks then covered it with soil and wow it grew and is now in need of some containment. It's growing in some of the worst soil I have ever inherited. It's water repellant, sandy and until recently was covered with black plastic and blue metal gravel! Yes it was nasty. I have never tried weedmat but I would worry about water getting in to the soil below, but as you mention it does seem to get through. I wonder if you could also try creeping boobiala...think that's the right name! My memory for names is not the best. There's also a couple of really good websites that I visit to get ideas when I am in plant planning stage. One is SA state flora home page, I am sure there would be the equivalent in your state. They have a catalogue of plants with soil, pH and water etc requirements. It makes choosing plants so much easier. Hope you have some luck with your planting....and yes having a horse in suburbia would be interesting! I am only 5 minutes walk from a stables in suburbia....wonderful council planning of a bygone era, so I can get my hands on manure and lovely stable straw for my compost. But having a horse! Not at the moment! Also a note of warning, when you are weeding petty spurge, thanks Nathan, make sure if it is in flower you cover the plant with a plastic bag before you pull it out. If the flower is still yellow it's less likely to shed seeds BUT if the flower looks "fluffy" and white that's the danger time and the bag should be used to enable you to pull the weed out without shedding millions of seeds at the same time! Cheerio for now GreenGrub :-)