break up the soil. Be careful not to damage root systems though. If necessary, you can drive a small diameter stake into the ground around plants that allows the water to get down lower in the soil. Then water it in stages, a little at a time. Once soils get completely dry, they become water adverse which means that it takes a lot for them to begin accepting water again. If you try to soak very dry soil that is compacted, it will just run off for the most part. Also, what happens is the water finds drain channels down through the dry soil where it drains down through a narrow channel in the soil and when you water, it just goes down the channels making you think it is soaking in evenly.

The best way to fix it is to work the soil and water slowly over a long period of time.

I've been mulching like crazy this year.....my peppers have never been better, and I'm literally watering less than half as much as I used to.

i built a circular "wall" around my plants made of dirt. This in effect created a little reservoir around the plant so that the water would pool and eventually seep into the ground. It was a pain in the ass making 30 of these in my garden, but my plants look a lot better even one day later.

Drip hose irrigation if you want to "set it and forget it" and use water efficiently to boot.

I don't have space for raised beds, so most of what I grow is in pots. I find that straw or timothy hay (left overs from the rabbits) works better than bark mulch.

I would never totally rely/depend on the rain. Always water my plants as need. I have a rain gauge Any 1.5 to 2" ie equal to one round of watering.
In drought and hot weather conditions you need to mulch, mulch, mulch..I just mulch lightly with pin nuggets to prevent splash , as our temperature rarely go higher than 85F and we get some rain all the time. But I know drought and soil hardening ;; I have gardened in GA red clay for years.

Another observation: Drip irrigation can only moisten a limited area. The remedy is just use a hose with a shower head once in a while. YMMV

Sey