Good for you.....It would be good exercise, but like swimming upstream in a swift river. If it were possible, postpone the digging until Fall arrives and leaves drop off. It would be very good to deep soak the whole area around each tree so as to change the clay into slushy, gooey, soggy consistency. Dripping, falling-apart wet. With rubber gloves, a sharp shovel a hand pruner, and a garden fork you could slowly try to uncover and clean each root and remove the slushy clay encasing the roots. Cut the roots as far from the trunk as you can. Especially salvage the thin, mossy roots. Gentle handling is very worthwhile. After the "fillet" of tree/roots comes out, you could hose it off to get rid of the remaining soggy clay. If it were possible, soak the entire root structure in a water-holding "vat" made of any kind of frame that could support 6 mil thick plastic sheeting that would make a shallow swimming pool. Let the trees soak for a day or 2 in water that is enhanced with fertilizer. For me, I use a strong dose of Superthrive in the water. Instead of digging a big hole for each tree and covering the tender roots with chunky native soil, I would use several bags of nursery's bagged potting soil to pour on top of the trees to make a mound on top of the undisturbed soil there with the tree staked upright and sitting on top of the soil. Keeping the mound continually moist is necessary so the thin mossy roots don't croak. All of this is greatly improved if done in late Fall. Good luck.

Looks like Blue Dawn Flower to me. It's commonly sold in California and is not particularly "invasive" here. It does spread by runner and rhizome, but because of our climate it can't easily survive the summer dry period without supplimental watering. Yes, in yards it can get a bit overwhelming, but I wouldn't worry too much about the fence; if you to cut the vines at the ground and tried to pick up the resulting tangle it would be quite light. It also climbs by twining and should not deteriorate the wood of the fence. As far as I'm aware there would be no way to keep the plant on the neighbor's side of the fence only; any cutting or poisoning that you were to do to your side would invariably affect the neighbor's side... Mike

nywoodsman's worldview is such because he has never experienced poison ivy like the rest of us! My wife and I are very allergic to p.I. But she is more allergic than I. We went to Disney World one year and they wouldn't let us in to a tour group because they thought she had a highly contagious skin disease (like eczema) on her face!! We had an abundance of it growing in a shrub we wanted to keep. I trimmed the shrub but avoided p.I. like the plague!! But it got so bad growing out of control each year that this year I had to do something. I obtained SYRVET's OB Veterinary Gloves which go all the way up to the shoulders (you can get them on Amazon). I had my wife tape them to my shoulders--however, you have to tape them across the back of the shirt, from top of glove to top of glove because the sweat will cause the tape to come loose and the glove will descend down to near the wrists. Not good!! After I finished working, I had my wife carefully pull the long gloves inside-out and we placed them in a plastic bag for disposal. She had to wash right away but did not get any rash. Once the gloves were off and disposed of, I immediately used Technu on my hands and wrists by rubbing them for several minutes. Then I used a liquid soap on that and washed my hands and wrists off. I followed that with a shower. Don't think that wearing an old pair of pants will protect you completely! Some of the urushiol oil penetrated the cloth and I got a rash on my thigh. I treated it with Technu soap regularly for several days. That did not get rid of the rash but it did lessen the severity of the itch. Some may be interested In knowing that Technu also makes something called "Tecnu Corticool" which is a hydrocortisone that gives you relief from the itch. But you will have to apply it again after awhile. This cream comes in a 1.5 oz tube and can also be gotten on Amazon. Hope this helps

Yes, what floral said. That thing looks a mess, albeit the pruning you ask about could clear some of that up. Not sure it's worth it though, IMO. If it's a non-edible crab, as in sour, tiny, or otherwise unsuitable fruit, why mess with it? If you don't know, why is this such a priority? So...basically, fruit production happens on branches with good exposure to sunlight. Additionally, fruit harvest is aided by an overall horizontal aspect to the fruiting branches. I see a lot of suckers, AKA water sprouts, both of which names really don't mean anything, but which are clogging up the structure of the plant, reducing sunlight to what could be fruitful branches, etc. So first and foremost, I'd get rid of a lot of them. Why not all, you might ask? Because this tree, and every tree in the world, responds to the loss of branches by trying to make new branches. so if you hit it too heavy, you'll really just be perpetuating the problem. I don't work in an orchard, but I have pruned a lot of fl. crabs in my time, and I always tried to leave any suckers that weren't 100% vertical, that occupied space where there wasn't already another perfectly fine branch, or which grew somewhat more horizontally. The rest I'd take out. Same with regular branches; Leave as many as you can, but do attempt to get rid of congestion in the tree's crown. An old saying was that if you pruned a fruit tree correctly, a bird should have no trouble flying right through it. I think that's too extreme, but it gives you some idea of what you're after. Finally, there must be an orchard or two somewhere around you. Why not take a look at what those guys do. You will then see the strongly horizontal structure these folks strive for. Maybe talk to an orchardist. They'll know more about it then I do, even though I am an expert in most aspects of landscape tree care. +oM