Hard soil after days in direct sun. How to protect soil and not to impact water ph or nutrients? Outdoor grow

I have the same problem this year. A few hot days and soil was dry like a stone on the toplayer. I removed the hydro pellets and opened up the soil a little bit with a yardclaw for lack of a better word. Then I watered in slowly with 1 liter. Let it dry up and watered in the next day again with 1 liter. It helped a lot and it's something I need to manage more. Check week 15 of my grow this year to see what I mean 😉

Next time mix like 30-35% perlite into your soil mix to improve drainage. 👊

Hello You can line your pot with small stones(they sell at garden store, good for water retention, soil protection,won'taffect pH), you can line the top of the pot with a small layer of mulch which will also help with moisture and slowly over a long time breaks down and adds carbon to the soil(most inexpensive). My soil here in the desert gets "baked" unless i continually add organic matter (mulch, pumice stone, perlite etc) and eventually doesn't absorb water very well. Just keep trying to bring soil life up and you could always cover the pot with a sheet or something to just keep the sun off slightly. Good luck happy growing