I did a little research on posts. Consensus: No body agrees. Barn builders say if the ground is well-drained then earth backfill is ok, seems logical (putting peagravel around the post, to my mind, would hold water and encourage rot--and over time, the air spaces between the peagravel would fill in anyway). Lumberyards say concrete around the posts encourages rot when the post shrinks the resulting gap fills up with water and cannot drain, and when it freezes will split the concrete. A company called FBi makes a square, hi-tensile, reinforced, corrosion-resisting concrete "pier" of sorts that sits below and above ground that you graft a wood post to with metal plates on either side. This seems like the way to go.

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