Sorry, I was being tongue in cheek about the shoe spikes. I'm complaining that its much harder to navigate the hill than it used to be. The similarly steep slope on the south side was planted (by developer) with 3 rows of white pines after grass had been laid down. They seem to be doing fine after 4 years. But I don't want to hide my view in front with tall trees or go the monoculture route. I read the following on a native CA plant nursery site (link provided) when researching about planting slopes. Why wouldn't it be the same for Maryland native plants? (They really think grass is a bad idea to use on slopes. I am seeing areas of erosion on my grassy slopes.) "A mixture of deep-rooted [California ] native shrubs, and trees, mixed with shallow-rooted shrubs, and perennials, mulched and with no weeds, will control erosion on the slope. Why should you plant a [California] native plant community on the slope and not grass or ice plant! Because the native plants connect with each other underground, and the microorganisms that live in association with them produce tiny threads that ramify through the soil, coiling around particles of sand and clay and holding them, and also producing glue-like compounds to hold the soil particles. This interconnection, I guess you could think of it as a natural microorganism community underground living in cooperation with the plant community aboveground, which the grass and iceplant, and other alien plants do not possess, is why it is critical to plant [California] native plants in a spaced plant community to control erosion on a slope. From the San Dimas Research Experiment of erosion and hillside runoff. "The concept that surface runoff is rare on any undisturbed watershed...has become accepted among forest hydrologists and seems equally to apply on the San Dimas experimental Forest." (Patric) If the hillside has native plants covering it, there was no runoff and the soil slowly released the water over the season. A trace of runoff from native plant covered slopes. Grass covered slopes lead to hillside erosion and possible landslides. 30-75% of all rainfall on grass- covered slopes ran off. The native plant -covered slopes also stayed drier in winter. Weedy or grass cover slopes get very wet very fast and either shed water or slide mud. Iceplant, Vinca, Ivy fits the weedy role, not the native role. So bare soil or grass (or straw) -covered slopes experience boundless erosion through mudslides (wet slopes) and surface gullies when compared to the "beggarly erosion of slopes planted in a community of native plants". Here is a link that might be useful: How to landscape a hillside slope

A 2x from stable surface to stable surface, tie wire to maintain height, stake beside to prevent lateral motion. Since this less than a yard pour, you'll probably hand mix. A couple of shovels full near where the pipes are stabilized will hold them in place. Finish the pour and pull the stakes and supports while the concrete is fresh, then fix any imperfections caused by the stake pulling.

The picture doesn't convey your exact slope but it looks like enough that I'd be worried about any granular mulch glacially sliding downhill over time. Too, would you really want a whole yard of desert in Florida? I'm just thinking about it fitting into the neighborhood. I'm around Tampa and very few yards are mass amounts of granular material. Mostly, it is seen in snowbird mobile home parks, put there by those who don't care diddly about plants. They just want a (supposedly) maintenance free lot. However, it is not even that. Eventually, as windblown dirt sifts into the mulch and algae grows and decomposes in it, it becomes capable of growing lots of nice weeds. Also, installing such mulch properly is neither cheap nor easy. Getting rid of it is more expensive and difficult. I'd seriously consider limiting such a solution to a smaller area (a landscape bed) than the whole yard. It would be easier to fix the irrigation system and install grass, either by seed or sod, depending on what type and method you choose.

You could buy a tight fitting rubber o-ring at the hardware store and slip over the end. Look in plumbing department.