Parsnips are one of my favourite vegetables, especially roasted in thick, succulent chunks. Last year seems to have been a very good season for growing parsnips – all that summer rain helping them on, no doubt!

We still have a row left, but fresh green growth on the tops has started to show, so it's time to lift them, before they begin to turn woody.

Some of them will end up being chopped into chunks fit for the roasting pan, and popped in the freezer until they are needed. The less handsome pieces are saved for adding to curries and soups, which they make delicious. I love the creaminess parsnips bring, as well as the distinctive flavour. Delia Smith has a recipe for cheese and parsnip roulade, with sage and onion stuffing, that I'd love to try, too. Tops and tails don't need to be composted straight away, either, as they can be used to make wine; the best of all country white wines, I think.

Digging up the last of the parsnips also feels like an ending – I won't say an ending of winter, because it's too soon to be sure of that, but at least, one of the signals that the old season is giving way to the new. Positive proof of this is at the other end of the kitchen, where our new parsnip seeds are chitting well. Some gardening books recommend sowing parsnip seed straight into the soil as early as March. I've never had much success at all with direct sowing, as there are just too many slugs, birds and mice about. So, for the last few years, I've started the parsnips off indoors.

Covered trays of moist kitchen roll are all that's needed; plastic food packaging, especially the sort that comes with a fitted clear lid, is ideal. I just scatter the seed evenly on the moist kitchen roll, and leave it covered, in the warmth of the kitchen. The seeds take only a few days to germinate, sending out a little white shoot that is scouting for soil.

That's the time to lift them and pop them each into a root trainer, or other pot filled with soil. Four will fit to each small flowerpot, or one to each module in the root trainer. Once the weather improves, they can sit outdoors, finally moving into the soil before their roots have reached the foot of the pot.

Even given this pampering treatment, many of the seeds won't germinate. My not very scientific observations would suggest about 50 per cent of fresh seed is either very slow, or fails, to germinate, and that's why I think it's worth taking time to select those that have, at the seedling stage. Otherwise, a lot of soil preparation and space goes to waste on thinly populated rows.

If you're planning on a huge harvest of parsnips, then this method is clearly not for you. But if you want to be more certain of a sufficient crop, then it's worth a try.