Ok, all you DIY heroes, time to help me rebuild my fence.

One of this year's wind storms took out a section of one of my fences. Upon examination, it became apparent that a rotten post had given way, and the weight of the sagging fence in the wind pulled out the screws holding the rails of said section in place. Time to rebuild the whole thing, by the looks of the neighboring posts. $hit.

This fence didn't appear to be too old, and it wasn't built to be top-heavy. It looks like the posts, which are located at the back of the vegetable garden, simply got too wet too often and rotted. To prevent a repeat event 5-10 years from now, I'd like to take whatever measures are available to protect the new posts from premature rot. I understand that concrete, with gravel underneath for drainage, is probably the best protection against rot. The trouble is, since we're always adding soil to the garden it's hard to build up the concrete high enough to stay above soil level over time.

I had a thought that "painting" a layer of concrete to a few inches above ground level on each post, prior to installation, might help at least some. Anyone else think this is a good/stupid idea or have a suggestion for something that might work better?

Thanks in advance....