Shallots- harvest when?

[Kirk]

Is there a particular time or something for digging up shallots?
Planted some in spring, early.

They have grown well and I now have a sort of dense green mat of shallot leaves that are overflowing on all sides. Unless I dig them up I cannot tell how many I actually planted (not actually that many). Really did not expect this.

Torn between leaving them but getting a bit hacked off with the chaos they are creating. I cannot see what I have elsewhere or what space is available to me for anything else.

[muddled]

Can't you take some out to use fresh and thereby give the remaining ones more space to grow?

A kind of harvest while thinning arrangement.
I do this with my overwintering onions with great success.

Besides, shallots harvested too early won't store well so unless you want to eat them all in the next few weeks, there'll be a lot of wastage which is a shame.

[roitelet]

Wait till the leaves start to go yellow and live with the chaos for the time being.