Songfacts®:

• Written by the Irish entertainer Johnny Patterson, "The Garden Where The Praties Grow" is one of his best known songs. It has appeared in many collections of songs for schoolchildren in England, and was widely recorded throughout the 20th century.
  
  It remains to be seen if Patterson composed the melody in its entirety; at least two other songs use the same melody: "The Old Alarm Clock" and "The Sick Note." The first alarm clock dates to the 15th century.
• "The Garden Where The Praties Grow" appears to be written from the perspective of a widower, but at the time he wrote it, Patterson's first wife, Selena Hickey, was very much alive. He is said to have written it in Liverpool, where he married her, and to have added an additional verse on June 1, 1875, shortly after the birth of his son. In the song, the narrator has two sons and a daughter; in reality he had two daughters and a son.
• Although a garden full of praties may sound romantic, the word is actually Irish vernacular for potatoes! >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3