Having yellow leaves at the bottom of the stem, is not necessary a bad thing. When those leaves dry out, the space now available will be an incentive for the plant to grow new shoots from where those leaves were.

Soil dry down an inch is not a sufficient check for moisture. Pls. take a wooden chopstick, dowel or even pencil & stick it all the way down in the dirt, then remove it. If there's moisture or soil left on the dowel, don't water for several days more, if it's clean & dry you can water.

Soil left moist over too long a time if water retentive like yours looks to be can yellow the older leaves like that.